Ninth Australia-China High Level Dialogue Announced

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Sep 17, 2025 - 09:52 Updated: Sep 16, 2025 - 17:52
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Ninth Australia-China High Level Dialogue Announced

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The Ninth Australia-China High Level Dialogue will be held in Beijing this week, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed.

The Dialogue will bring together former political leaders, representatives from government, industry, academia, media, health and the arts, according to a statement by Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong on Sept. 15.

“The Australian delegation comprises senior representatives from businesses, peak bodies, cultural institutions, and think tanks. Together they represent areas of significance to Australia’s relationship with China, today and into the future,” it reads.

The Australia–China High-Level Dialogue is a bipartisan initiative established in 2014 and has been held annually since, excluding 2019 and 2022. Topics included trade and investment, education, cultural ties, and regional and international security.

Former Trade Minister Craig Emerson, who led the Australian delegation at the seventh Dialogue in Beijing in 2023, will again co-chair the Dialogue as head of the Australian delegation. Former federal minister Warwick Smith will also join.

Scott Dewar, Australia’s ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, and Elly Lawson, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s deputy secretary for Strategic Planning and Coordination, will participate as delegates.

The Dialogue comes after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese toured China in July and Former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews attended the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military parade in Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3.

Footage of Andrews shaking hands with CCP leader Xi Jinping, along with a photo featuring Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, was broadcast worldwide and drew strong criticism from the opposition, which pressured Albanese to take a stance.

“Old flatmates stick together. Anthony Albanese needs to demonstrate some moral clarity here and actually call out Daniel Andrews for being just a few feet away from dictators and despots at a Chinese parade, that the Chinese Communist Party demonstrated its military strength,” Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said.

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In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, (front row L-R) CCP's leader Xi Jinping, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, and former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews in the top-right corner, pose for a photograph before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3, 2025. Sergey Bobylev/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
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Albanese has distanced the federal government from Andrews’ actions.

“My position is very, very clear. Which is we did not send any government representative because it would not have been appropriate,” Albanese told Parliament on Sept. 4.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for more information about the Dialogue.

Monica O’Shea contributed to this report.
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