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11 August 2026
Stabilisation with caveats: Former ambassador Graham Fletcher on the Australia–China relationship
China blocked trade, froze out ministers, and left lobsters rotting on the tarmac, and still couldn't force Australia to budge. In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, former Australian ambassador to Beijing Graham Fletcher joins Research Director Mihai Sora to discuss what "stabilisation" really means for the Australia–China relationship — from rare earths and the Port of Darwin to Taiwan and the ever-present shadow cast from Washington. Fletcher argues the current "sweet spot" is harder won — and more fragile — than it looks.
Read Graham’s new Lowy Institute Analysis, Australia and China: Embracing while sparring.
Featuring
Mihai Sora
Mihai Sora is Director of Research at the Lowy Institute, where he leads the Institute’s research agenda across programs spanning geopolitics and security, the Indo-Pacific, China, the United States, global economics, aid and development, and the international order.
Graham Fletcher
Graham Fletcher is a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute and a former Australian Ambassador to China.
