Consular relations between the Qing dynasty and Australia were first established in 1909, and diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC) were established in 1941. Australia continued to recognise the ROC government after it lost the Chinese Civil War and retreated to Taiwan in 1949, but switched recognition to the People's Republic of China (PRC) on 21 December 1972. Chinese Australians have been a significant minority group in the country since the Qing dynasty.
The relationship between China and Australia has grown considerably over the years. They have strong political, economic, and cultural ties, including through multilateral organizations such as APEC, East Asia Summit and the G20. In 2023, Australia expressed its tentative support for China's application for membership of the CPTPP. China is Australia's largest two-way trading partner, and the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement has been in effect since 2015. Numerous Australian companies operate in China and Chinese firms have invested in Australian mining companies. Australia is one of the most popular destinations for overseas higher education and tourism among Chinese people. Australia's Chinese community is also one of the largest in the world, and per capita it is the largest outside Asia, and Mandarin Chinese is the second-most spoken language in Australia.
History
Qing dynasty China
The number of Chinese people in Australia rose significantly in the Victorian gold rush era,Wu, C. (13 April 2006). Let us work to bolster Sino-Australian ties. China Daily, pp. 4–4. and by 1861, was around 40,000, constituting 3.3% of the total population.
Liang Lan-hsun was the first Chinese Consul-General to Australia, sent by the government of Qing Empire in 1909 to Melbourne, then the seat of the Australian government. While the Chinese community had agitated for a Qing consulate in Australia for many years, there was reluctance from the British Foreign Office to approve such a move. After federation, the Chinese community's desire for an official voice in Australia increased due to the push for the White Australia Policy and anti-Chinese sentiment following the enactment of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901.
Mei Quong Tart, had for years been favored as the first Chinese Consul-General by the Chinese community, the European consular corps, as well as the Australian Prime Minister, but he died in 1903 before the Consulate-General had been set up. Instead, the first Consul-General was Liang Lan-hsun, an imperial official and experienced diplomat. However, the consul's attention was focused on trade relations, not discrimination against Chinese migrants.Jones, P., "The View from the Edge: Chinese Australians and China, 1890 to 1949", in Ferrall, C. et al. (ed.) (2005), East by South: China in the Australasian Imagination, pp.46ff
However the last Qing Consul Tong Ying Tung did become involved in assisting Chinese in Australia. Consul-General Tong Ying Tung in an interesting letter to the Minister of the Department of External Affairs declared that the “officers of your Department are operating most harshly against Chinese residents in the Northern Territory”. Consul Tong referred to a number of instances of discrimination and hardship, and pointed out that no distinction was being made between those who were “Foreign Subjects”, “Naturalised British Subjects” or “Australian born British Subjects” whether descended of foreign or naturalised parents. Finally the Qing representative in Australia felt that it was “almost a work of supererogation” when he needed to point out that naturalised British subjects gave up their previous nationality in expectation of having “all the rights and privileges of British Subjects.” Regarding those that were subjects of the Emperor, the Consul-General argued that, with Chinese numbers down and the Commonwealth in full control of its immigration, to treat these small numbers of “innocent persons” so harshly would seem “unnecessary and deplorable”. Not to mention the damage to the fishing industry he had already pointed out. [NAA: A1, 1911/8882, Consul-General for China, Tong Ying Tung to Minister for External Affairs, 22 March 1911.]
Republic of China
On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China replaced the Qing empire. The Consulate-General immediately set about mobilizing the Chinese community in support of the new government, collecting funds and sending delegates to elect overseas Chinese deputies in the new Chinese parliament. Different political factions in China found support in Australia: while the Consulate-General sponsored groups supporting Yuan Shikai's Beijing government, the opposing Chinese Nationalist League (later a branch of the Kuomintang) was formed in Sydney in 1916. A relaxation in Australia's racial exclusion laws led to broader people-to-people interactions. By 1924, 200 Chinese students were arriving in Australia to study in that year alone. An Australian trade commissioner was briefly stationed in China in 1921–22.
In the mid-1920s, conflict between China and Britain surrounding the Canton–Hong Kong strike created tensions between China and Australia (as a dominion of Britain) as well. Following the Northern Expedition in China, greater political unity within China bolstered the Chinese Consulate-General's confidence in criticizing Australian laws that discriminated against the Chinese; they were supported domestically by a resolution at the ruling Kuomintang's Third National Conference in 1929. Australian rules against Chinese residents and visitors were relaxed in response, including making it easier for Chinese nationals to visit or study in Australia.
The 1930s saw an upsurge in bilateral relations. The Consulate-General was reorganised and moved to Sydney, with sub-consulates opened in other key cities. Various Chinese officials visited Australia. In 1931–2, Lin Sen, Chairman of the National Government of China and figurehead head of state, visited Sydney and Melbourne. This was the first visit to Australia by a Chinese head of state, and Lin used the opportunity to press for greater relaxation of Australia's restrictions on Chinese migration. As a mark of respect, he was given a seat on the floor of the House of Representatives. In 1934, John Latham, the deputy leader of the government, led the Australian Eastern Mission which visited China.Au-Yeung, W., et al.(2012), "Australia-China: Not just 40 years ", Economic Roundup, 2012(4) In 1935, Vivian Gordon Bowden was appointed as Australia's trade commissioner based in Shanghai. The establishment of trade commissions in several Asian countries was an initiative of the Lyons government first announced in 1933, where previously Australian interests had been represented by the United Kingdom.
In 1941, after Australia established greater independence in foreign affairs, Australia established diplomatic relations with the Republic of China. Frederic Eggleston, who previously headed the Commonwealth Grants Commission, was appointed the first minister to China in Chongqing, China's war-time capital, while Hsu Mo, deputy foreign minister, was appointed the first minister to Australia. In 1948, the two countries upgraded their mutual representations to ambassadors.
People's Republic of China
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China ("PRC") in 1949 and the retreat of the Republic of China ("ROC") government to Taiwan, Australia did not recognise the PRC. The United Kingdom proposed in 1949 that Britain, Australia and New Zealand should simultaneously recognise the new government. However, the Australian and New Zealand governments were concerned about electoral repercussions at a time when Communism was becoming a more topical issue, and did not do so immediately. Although Ben Chifley's Labor government preferred to be realistic about the new Chinese government and would have supported its admission to the United Nations,The Whitlam Institute, "Australia-China Relations before Recognition", in Whitlam and China, 2012 it lost the election. The British government went ahead with the recognition of the PRC alone in 1950, but the United States withheld recognition.
The Korean War further solidified the United States' position of supporting the Republic of China regime in Taiwan instead of the PRC. Wavering between its two traditional allies, Australia chose to follow the lead of the United States, rather than Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, France, Canada, and Italy (all of which switched recognition to the PRC before 1970).
However, from 1950, Australia refused to accept ambassadors from the ROC (the mission was allowed to remain but, until 1959, was headed by a chargé d'affaires). Likewise, until 1966 Australia did not send an ambassador to Taiwan. From as early as 1954, the Australian government's Department of External Affairs was recommending the recognition of the PRC, but this advice was not politically accepted. During the Cold War, Australia's strategic alignment swung further towards the United States. While the Labor Party's official policy from 1955 was that Australia should follow the examples of Britain and France in recognizing the PRC, on the basis that the ROC was unlikely to recover the mainland,The Whitlam Institute, "Whitlam's Advocacy for Diplomatic Recognition", in Whitlam and China, 2012 the Liberal Party-led Coalition played up the perceived threat of a Communist China for electoral advantage, including the support of the anti-Communist Democratic Labor Party. As part of this political strategy, Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt explicitly recognised the continuing legitimacy of the ROC government in Taiwan in 1966, by sending an ambassador to Taipei for the first time.
The government of William McMahon sought to improve non-official relations with China, in areas such as trade and culture, but China was not receptive to such exchanges without diplomatic recognition.
As opposition leader, Gough Whitlam visited China in 1971 (before Henry Kissinger's historic visit on behalf of the United States), and in December 1972, after Whitlam's victory in that year's federal election, Australia established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, and Australia ceased to recognise the Republic of China government of Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan."Sino – Australia Relations" , Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Australia Although Whitlam's decision was informed by warming relations between China and the West generally, especially the United States, Australian diplomatic relations with the People's Republic predated that of the United States by seven years. The establishment of relations with "Red China" roused great excitement in Australia.Ferrall, C., "An Introduction to Australasian Orientalism", in Ferrall, C. et al. (ed.) (2005), East by South: China in the Australasian Imagination, pp.9ff Stephen Fitzgerald became the first Australian ambassador to the People's Republic of China, and Wang Guoquan was the first PRC ambassador to Australia.
Since the Chinese economic reforms initiated by the late Deng Xiaoping, China has benefited from significant investment in China by Australian companies (for example, future prime minister Malcolm Turnbull had set up the first China-foreign joint venture mining company in China in 1994), while Australia has benefited from the Chinese appetite for natural resources to modernise its economy, infrastructure and meet its growing energy demands.Sino-Australian relations. (2011). Engineering and Mining Journal, (00958948), 59–62,64. In 2009, it was estimated the trade and investment with China brought benefits of close to $4000 per Australian household; in 2011, this was estimated to be A$10,500 per household per year.