Designation/description | Year of first designation/use | Context |
Strategic partnership | Circa 1997 | Independently used by the Howard government to describe Australia’s relationship with China in March 1997 |
Comprehensive cooperative ties for mutual benefit in the 21st century | 2006 | Designation adopted during Premier Wen Jiabao’s April 2006 visit to Australia |
Comprehensive and cooperative relationship/Comprehensive and constructive relationship | 2009 | Formulation in joint statement between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Vice Premier Li Keqiang in November/December 2009 and used again in slightly different format during Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s meeting with Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin in April 2011 |
Strategic partnership | 2013 | Designation adopted during Prime Minister Gillard’s April 2013 visit to China |
Comprehensive strategic partnership | 2014 | Designation adopted during President Xi Jinping’s November 2014 visit to Australia |
Select Senior Officials Meetings
Title | Details | No. of meetings | First/last held | Status |
Australia-China Defence Strategic Dialogue | Forum for discussions between Australia’s Department of Defence and China’s People’s Liberation Army | 22 | 1997/2019 | Inoperative: 2020-22 Resumption announced: Late 2022 Appears to have resumed in some form in March 2022 (e.g., here, here, here, and here) |
Australia-China Human Rights Dialogue | Forum for discussions between parliamentarians, senior officials from a range of government agencies, and the Australian Human Rights Commission | 15 | 1997/2014 | Formally suspended |