Xi urges better ties in rare summit with Australia

After years of animosity that hampered trade ties and froze top-level meetings, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the meeting had been "positive and constructive"

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for soured relations with Australia to "improve" and "develop" on Tuesday, as the two countries held a first formal summit in more than five years.

After years of animosity that hampered trade ties and froze top-level meetings, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the meeting had been "positive and constructive".

The talks lasted just 32 minutes and took place on the margins of a G-20 summit in Bali, but signalled a major diplomatic shift.

Australian and Chinese leaders had a brief exchange at the 2019 G-20 summit in Japan, but have not had a formal sitdown in more than half a decade.

China has been angered by Australia's willingness to legislate against overseas influence operations, to bar Huawei from 5G contracts and to call for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

In recent years, Beijing has levied punitive sanctions on Australian goods, frozen ministerial contacts and plunged relations into the most serious crisis since the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.

Australian products from barley and coal to wine, beef and even infant formula have all been subject to Chinese sanctions.