Former prime minister Paul Keating confirms that he will meet China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet Paul Keating while in Australia this week, the former prime minister has confirmed while insisting there is nothing unusual about the interaction.

Mr Wang arrives on Tuesday for a three-day trip focused on the formal foreign and strategic dialogue with Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

He will be the most senior Chinese official to visit Australia since 2017.

As well as the bilateral meetings in Canberra on Wednesday, Mr Wang is expected to meet business and community leaders in Sydney on Thursday.

Mr Keating said that he received “an unexpected invitation” last week to meet Mr Wang, which was followed up by an offer from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to facilitate the meeting.

Although it was unexpected, he did not see anything unusual about the request.

“It is the fact that former prime ministers of all countries meet ministers of other countries most, if not all, of the time,” he said in a statement on Monday.

“This is the normal intercourse of national and international discussion that takes place across the world.”

Mr Keating said that he had met Chinese premiers, deputy premiers and ministers over the past 30 years, and also held discussions with ministers for other countries.

He has been an outspoken critic of what he sees as an “anti-China” stance among Australia’s security agencies and some in the Government.

He has also made multiple personal attacks on Senator Wong, including this month after she warned ASEAN nations about the rising threat from China and the need for better structures to make sure misunderstandings did not escalate into conflict.

“It doesn’t take much to encourage Penny Wong, sporting her ‘deeply concerned’ frown, to rattle the China can — a can she gave a good shake to yesterday,” Mr Keating said at the time.

But when confirming his meeting with the Chinese minister, Mr Keating backed the Government’s approach.

“I have strongly supported Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in his desire, in his words, to re-anchor Australian foreign policy in the region ... as I have supported Foreign Minister Penny Wong in her attempts to lower the loud hailer and ‘stabilise’ relations with China,” he said.

“And, given the chance, I will be emphasising these points to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“Australia has moved substantially from the counterproductive baiting policy the Morrison government applied to China to now something much more civil and productive.”

The resumption of the regular bilateral ministerial talks is seen as another step forward in stabilising the Australia-China relationship, as agreed when Mr Albanese met China’s president and premier in Beijing in late 2023.

Senator Wong has met Mr Wang on five previous occasions.

A good rapport between the pair is expected to allow for frank and clear discussion about the differences and points of tension between their countries.

It is anticipated that Senator Wong will raise the remaining trade impediments on lobster and some red meat, consular cases including the death penalty handed to academic Yang Hengjun, human rights issues, strategic challenges including the need to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, along with the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Maritime security, along the lines of her remarks at ASEAN about the importance of minimising misunderstandings, will also be discussed.

The talks will likely last for several hours and include formal sections with the officials from each side, and informal elements.