Our relationship with China

The Queensland-China relationship has come a long way since Australia-China diplomatic relations began in 1972. Drawing on a more than 30 years sister-state relationship with Shanghai, we have forged close trade, business, science and research, education and cultural ties. Not only are our two economies complimentary, we also enjoy strong people-to-people links.

Queensland is home to an active and thriving Chinese business community encompassing a diverse range of industries, products and services. Through organisations such as the Queensland Chinese Association of Scientists and Engineers, the community plays a key role in initiating and maintaining industry and academic links.

China has become one of our most important knowledge partners, with a number of ‘firsts’ between us. For example, Queensland was the first Australian state government to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. Queensland is the only state Government to have a joint funding program with the Chinese Academy of Sciences—China’s leading research agency, think tank and advisory to government on science and technology.

Facts and figures

  • China is Queensland’s largest merchandise export market worth $23.5 billion in 2025, or about 23.2% of the state’s total merchandise export (QGSO).
  • China is one of the largest and most valuable international visitor market for the state and in the year ending September 2025, 184,000 Chinese visitors spent almost $1.2 billion in Queensland (Tourism and Events Queensland).
  • Since 2020, China has remained the world’s leading producer of scientific publications, consistently contributing the largest shares of global research output.
  • Key Chinese research institutions with global standing include the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Zhejiang University (ZJU), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), Tsinghua University (THU) and Peking University (PKU), all of which rank among the world’s leading research organisations.
  • China is Queensland’s second highest ranked international research collaborator, with over 22,500 joint publications from 2020-2025. Top fields include engineering, biomedical and clinical sciences, chemical sciences, biological science, and information and computing science. (Dimensions)
  • The Queensland institutions most frequently co-authoring with China institutions were the University of Queensland (UQ), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Griffith University and University of Southern Queensland.
  • The University of Queensland (UQ) maintains more than 130 agreements with over 80 official partners in China, reflecting the scale and depth of UQ’s research, education and industry collaboration with China.