Foreign Minister Marise Payne has expressed her desire to maintain diplomatic ties with China despite concerns over the regime’s increasingly assertive behavior in the Indo-Pacific region.
It comes as United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised Australia’s efforts in instigating an investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and pledged to not leave the Commonwealth alone “on the pitch”.
“The world saw China’s aggressive response when Australia led calls for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, and Beijing has seen over the past months that Australia will not back done,” Secretary Blinken said.
