Australia and China have formally committed to annual leadership talks, giving Canberra greater access than the superpower has granted virtually any other Western nation.
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With countries across the world clamouring for the ear of the world's second largest economy, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has landed the foreign policy triumph of her leadership, agreeing to a strategic partnership with her Chinese counterpart, Premier and Prime Minister, Li Keqiang.
Under the agreement, annual meetings will take place between the prime ministers of the governments, an arrangement that exists as a formal process between China and only three other countries - Britain, Germany and Russia - as well as with the European Union.