Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong attends the APEC Ministerial Meeting of top foreign and trade officials of the 21 member economies in Gyeongju, South Korea on October 30, 2025. Photo: VCG

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Monday that the Albanese government has "prioritized dialogue with China at every level," underscoring Canberra's commitment to maintaining stable ties with Beijing. An expert said her remarks reflect the Labor government's pragmatic approach to China, while warning that some Australian media continue to sensationalize issues surrounding bilateral relations.

Wong made the comments at the Australian Institute of International Affairs Gala Dinner in Canberra, where she outlined Labor's foreign policy toward China, the US, Pacific Island countries and Indonesia. She said Australia had "stabilized relations with China, without compromising on our interests," noting the importance of Beijing as "our largest trading partner, the world's second-largest economy and a key player on climate action," according to the Australian Foreign Ministry.

Wong said the Albanese administration has "prioritized dialogue with China at every level, including channels of communication between our militaries." At the same time, she stressed the need to use these channels "to advocate for conflict prevention, and to communicate that we do not tolerate any unsafe or unprofessional conduct directed at our ADF."

Wong said that Australia "should not be distracted by any false binary around this relationship - any claim that safeguarding our sovereignty is somehow mutually exclusive with productive economic ties." What Australia seeks, she said, is "a relationship that allows us to cooperate and engage with China, while prosecuting our national interests and building security and prosperity in our region." China, she added, "will continue to be a major influence on our region, as well as on the multilateral system."

Her remarks came just days ahead of China's top legislator's visit. According to Xinhua on Sunday, Zhao Leji, chairman of China's National People's Congress Standing Committee, will pay official goodwill visits to New Zealand and Australia from November 19 to 25, at the invitation of Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Gerry Brownlee, and Australia's Speaker of the Senate Sue Lines and Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick.

An expert said Wong's comments show that compared with the previous Morrison administration, the Albanese government has adopted a more stable and pragmatic approach toward China, despite ongoing differences and security-related rhetoric.

"Unlike the former government, which often approached China through an ideological lens, the Albanese administration has shifted toward pragmatic economic and diplomatic engagement," Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Tuesday. He said multiple high-level contacts have helped repair the relationship and create a more constructive atmosphere for cooperation.

Chen said Wong's remarks also counter domestic claims that Australia must choose between sovereignty and economic engagement with China. "Australia understands that China, as its largest trading partner and a key actor in regional order and global governance, cannot be decoupled from," Chen said.

However, Chen noted that Wong sought to maintain balance in her speech by emphasizing Australia's security and alliances with the US and the UK, but overall, Chen said Canberra appears intent on pursuing a flexible and balanced realist policy amid rising global uncertainty.

Yet several Australian media outlets interpreted Wong's comments through a confrontational angle. News.com.au described her remarks as sounding an "alarm on quartet of chaos," publishing a story under the headline "'Sabotage and destabilise'," and claimed Wong charged that "China is trying to reshape the region in line with the goals of fellow anti-West allies and saboteurs." The Australian Financial Review argued that Wong "sends warning on China reshaping the region."

In her speech, Wong said that China would continue trying to reshape the region according to its own interests. Chen noted her remarks were referring to long-term structural competition in the region and did not single China out as a unilateral threat. "Some Australian media tend to sensationalize China-related issues, to lock China into a security-risk narrative to provoke confrontation and appeal to domestic hawks," he added.

Wong's speech follows Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's July visit to China, during which he said that Australia values its relations with China and looks forward to working with the Chinese side to treat each other as equals, seek common ground while shelving differences and engage in mutually beneficial cooperation to advance bilateral ties, according to Xinhua.

Noting that Australia adheres to the one-China policy and does not support "Taiwan independence," Albanese said Australia stands ready to maintain dialogue and exchanges with China at all levels to enhance mutual trust.