In August, Canberra and Washington signed a 25-year bilateral military pact, which allowed the US to increase the number of Marines in Darwin to 2,500 by 2017. In November, following in the footsteps of the US and Japan, Australia reacted strongly to China demarcating the Air Defense Identification Zone over the East China Sea. The consequent skirmish became the first diplomatic row between Beijing and Canberra since Tony Abbott assumed the prime minister's office in September.

All this shows Australia is drawing closer to the US strategically, which may not be good for China-Australia relations, as some insightful people in both countries have said. For five consecutive years, China has remained Australia's largest trading partner, its largest market for exports, its largest source of imports and its largest contributor to trade surplus.

Therefore, it is in both countries' interests to continue building on the current good momentum in bilateral ties. To this end, Canberra should keep the impact of its military alliance with Washington on its relations with Beijing to the minimum. Building strategic mutual trust could be an effective way to dispel doubts and avoid misjudgments between the two sides.

In this context, the trilateral military exercise could be a good starting point for China and Australia, along with the US, to move in the right direction.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily. [email protected]