The Chinese Foreign Minister is expected in Australia and New Zealand

Chinese diplomatic chief Wang Yi will visit Australia and New Zealand next week, officials announced Thursday, which should be devoted to facilitating trade.

It is the first visit by a Chinese foreign minister to Australia since 2017, amid easing trade ties between Beijing and Canberra.

“I think Wang Yi's visit is a good thing,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Thursday, calling it “significant progress” in lifting trade barriers.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced that Wang would also visit Wellington.

“We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing our entire bilateral relationship, which is one of the most important and complex for New Zealand.”

The Chinese minister is due to meet Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on March 20 as part of a “strategic dialogue”.

“Wherever we can cooperate with China, where we disagree, we seek to engage in our national interest,” Ms Wong said in a statement.

Relations between Beijing and Canberra have cooled over the years. In 2018, the Australian government excluded Chinese group Huawei from participating in the country's 5G network, and later in 2020 requested an international inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.

In response, China imposed high tariffs on Australia's main exports of barley, beef and wine and cut off coal imports.

Relations have improved since the election of a centre-left government in Australia in 2022, but deep differences remain over human rights and China's growing diplomatic and military influence in the Pacific.

Beijing lifted prohibitive tariffs on barley and a ban on timber imports and resumed its coal purchases.

This week, Australia's leading wine group, Treasury Wine Estates, said it had been informed by officials from both countries of a “provisional draft decision” from Beijing on the removal of punitive tariffs implemented in 2020. Expected “in the coming weeks”.

During his visit to Beijing in November 2023, Mr. Albanese welcomed progress in relations between the two countries, despite many remaining differences, notably the suspension of Chinese-born Australian author Yang Jun by a Beijing court in February.