Australia and China find common ground on trade

Sydney

IT was almost a major faux pas in sports-mad Australia - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived at an Australian Rules football match in Sydney wearing the blue, black and white scarf of interstate rival Port Adelaide Power.

But he quickly donned a red and white scarf of the hometown Sydney Swans to match that of his host, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Mr Li later confessed that wearing both team scarves on a balmy autumn evening made him "really hot", but the broad smiles of the two leaders provided a telling contrast to a bad-tempered telephone call between Mr Turnbull and a freshly-elected Donald Trump that made international headlines.

Australia and China found unprecedented common ground on trade during Mr Li's recent five-day visit Down Under, with a clear agenda of rejecting the "America First" protec…