Sunday 12 June 2022 03:16 PM Australia meets with China to thaw relations after Beijing hit back over ... trends now

Australia's two-year diplomatic freeze with China has ended with a meeting between Minister for Defence Richard Marles and his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe.

The face-to-face meeting, held at the Shangri-La security summit in Singapore, was the first high-level contact between the countries since January 2020. 

The meeting follows a 'very dangerous' mid-air incident in the South China Sea, where an Australian spy plane was intercepted by a Chinese fighter jet while conducting surveillance on May 26.

Mr Marles said the RAAF P-8A Poseidon aircraft was carrying out maritime surveillance when it was intercepted by a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft in a 'dangerous manoeuvre'.

But Beijing hit back through The Global Times - the Chinese Communist Party's mouthpiece - which accused Australia of acting like a 'little bully'. 

Mr Marles said that 'What occurred was that the J-16 aircraft flew very close to the side of the P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft.

'In flying close to the side, it released flares, the J-16 then accelerated and cut across the nose of the P-8, settling in front of the P-8 at very close distance.

'At that moment, it then released a bundle of chaff which contained small pieces of aluminium, some of which were ingested into the engine of the P-8 aircraft.'

But The Global Times claimed the Australian government failed to address several questions about the operation in the South China Sea.

'For example, where exactly in the South China Sea is the area in which the incident occurred?' it wrote.

'How far is it from the Chinese islands and reefs in the region? What is their purpose here? Furthermore, what did the Australian military aircraft do before the intercept?'

Against the backdrop of mutual antagonism, Mr Marles said Sunday's meeting was a 'frank and full exchange' in which he spoke about China's recent of the Australian air force plane.

'This was an important meeting between two countries of consequence in the Indo-Pacific meeting,' he told reporters in Singapore.

'It was a critical first step. Australia and China's relationship is complex and it's precisely because of this complexity that it is really important that we are engaging in dialogue right now.'

Australian-Chinese relations have endured a difficult time since April 2020, when

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