An Australian Foreign Minister will visit China this week for the first time since 2018.

Penny Wong has been invited for a trip which will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

A breakdown in the relationship has seen little interaction at the highest level for more than three years.

Professor Gordon Flake, CEO of the Perth USAsia Centre at The University of Western Australia told Jamie Burnett, filling in for Oliver Peterson that really what has happened here is a reduction in temperature of the relationship.

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“To have a minister travelling to Beijing wouldn’t have made news three or four years ago but it is news today as we have gone through a period of difficulty and those temperatures have cooled down a little bit,” Professor Flake said.