The ambassador of Australia to China is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the Embassy of the Commonwealth of Australia to the People's Republic of China (PRC). The position has the rank and status of an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and has lived in Beijing since 1973. The incumbent ambassador is Scott Dewar who took up the appointment in January 2024. The ambassador's work is assisted by multiple consulates throughout the country that have visiting and reporting responsibilities, as well as handling consular and trade matters for the embassy.

Posting history Australia's first diplomatic representative in China was Vivian Gordon Bowden, who in 1935 was appointed as a 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. Bowden's office was based in the HSBC Building within the Shanghai International Settlement. Bowden served until 1941 when he was transferred to Singapore, with the trade commission taken over by the new formal legation in Chongqing.

Australia's legation was first accredited to the Republic of China and was located in Chongqing from 1941 to 1946, with the first Minister, Sir Frederic Eggleston, presenting his credentials to President Lin Sen on 30 October 1941. The legation later moved to Nanjing from June 1946 to 1949, initially located at 34 Peiping Road and then 26 Yihe Road. Following the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Australian Government recalled its Ambassador from China to discuss recognition of the Communist Government. The Government of the Republic of China, having retreated to Taipei, Taiwan, maintained its embassy in Australia until December 1972. In 1966 Australia opened an embassy in Taipei.Whitlam hasn't dumped Taiwan, Bruce Grant, The Age, July 14, 1971, page 5 In 1972, diplomatic relations ceased following the decision of the government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to recognise the People's Republic of China, and the Taipei Embassy closed in 1973.Taiwan country brief, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade As a result of Australia's recognition of the PRC in 1973, Australia has no diplomatic representation in Taiwan and continues economic, trade and cultural relations through the Australian Office in Taipei.

After diplomatic recognition of the PRC in 1972, Australia established an embassy in Beijing in 1973, followed by Consulates-General in Shanghai (1984), Guangzhou (1992), and Chengdu (2013). The latter was opened following release of the Asian Century White Paper by the Gillard government, and calls for an expanded diplomatic footprint in China. On 9 November 2014 the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, formally opened the Australian Consulate-General in Chengdu. In March 2017, an agreement was signed to establish a fifth Australian Consulate-General in 2018, to be located in the northern city of Shenyang. From 1991 to 2008, the ambassador to China was also accredited to Mongolia.

List of officeholders

Heads of Mission

Republic of China, 1941–1949 # Name Office Term start date Term end date Time in office Notes Minister – Chargé d'affaires Minister – Chargé d'affaires Ambassador Relations suspended

Republic of China, 1966–1973 # Name Office Term start date Term end date Time in office Notes – Chargé d'affaires 1966 1966 years Frank Bell Cooper Ambassador 1966 1969 years 1969 1972 years – Tony Godfrey-Smith Chargé d'affaires 1972 1973 years For Australian ambassadors after 1973 see the list of representatives of the Australian Office in Taipei

People's Republic of China, 1973–present # Name Office Other offices Term start date Term end date Time in office Notes Ambassador 1973 1976 years Garry Woodard 1976 1980 years 1980 1984 years 1984 1985 years 1985 1988 years 1988 1991 years Michael Lightowler 1991 1996 years 1996 2000 years 2000 2003 years Alan Thomas 2003 2007 years 2007 2011 years 2011 2015 years incumbent

Notes Also non-resident Australian Ambassador to Mongolia, 1991 to 2008.

Deputy Heads of Mission NameStart of termEnd of termReferencesColin S. Heseltine19821985David Ambrose19851988Colin S. Heseltine19881992Sam Gerovich19921997Penny Richards19972000Lydia Morton20002003Graham Fletcher20032008Graeme Meehan20082012Justin Hayhurst2012November 2016Gerald ThomsonNovember 2016December 2019Jason RobertsonJanuary 2020present

Consuls-General

LocationOpenConsular districtConsulate-General, Hong Kong1972Hong Kong SAR, Macau SARConsulate-General, Shanghai1984Shanghai Municipality, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and ZhejiangConsulate-General, Guangzhou1992Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Hunan, Guangxi Zhuang ARConsulate-General, Chengdu2013Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Municipality of ChongqingConsulate-General, Shenyang2019Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang

Chengdu NameStart of termEnd of termReferencesNancy Gordon30 May 20137 November 2016Christopher Lim7 November 20164 May 2021Adelle Neary4 May 2021present

Guangzhou NameStart of termEnd of termReferencesMaurine ChongNovember 199231 May 1996Zena Armstrong31 May 199628 September 1999John Courtney28 September 199911 September 2003Kevin Magee11 September 200325 October 2006Sean Kelly26 January 200720 November 2009Grant Dooley20 November 200925 June 2012Jill Collins25 June 201211 February 2014Dominic Trindade11 February 20145 January 2018Jason Robertson5 January 201820 November 2022Anthony Aspden20 November 2022present

Shenyang NameStart of termEnd of termReferencesBroughton Robertson2 March 2019present

See also List of ambassadors of China to Australia

References

External links

Australian Embassy, China Australian Consulate-General, Chengdu Australian Consulate-General, Guangzhou Australian Consulate-General, Shenyang