Australia's ambassador to China, Geoff Raby, was told to return to Canberra on such a short notice to participate in urgent talks considering the waning relationship between the two countries, reports have said. Moments ago, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stated that Australia-China relations are full of challenges. Much of the diplomatic tensions came after China detained Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu in an espionage dispute. It is of some worry that trade between the two nations will suffer as a result. Grief between the two comes during a period in which the 1.3-billion person nation found itself to be the largest single country destination for Australian exports. Since the start of the year, Australian shipments to the Asian country have surged 54%. But with Australia failing to even show up in the official export statistics figure for China, it appears as though the latter has less to worry over its ties with the former.
BUSINESS
