Australia–China relations
bilateral relations between Australia and China
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, and by 1861, was around 40,000, constituting 3.3% of the total population.
The public source identifies “Australia–China relations” as bilateral relations between Australia and China. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Australia, China and relations.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4825276. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1909, 1941, 1949 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “Australia–China relations” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.