Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the US-China relationship is the most vital for the world's future.
Mr Abbott told a US Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Washington DC on Thursday that Australia had balanced being a good friend to China while also being the strongest possible ally of the US.
He said Australian prime ministers and ministers had been able to manage relations with China while at the same time doing such things as meeting with the Dalai Lama, visiting Taiwan, and protesting against China's unilateral declaration of an air defence identification zone over territory that Japan administers.
Mr Abbott encouraged Americans to admire the success of China in its economic expansion which had delivered the "greatest and the quickest advance in human welfare of all time".
"The relationship between America and China is worth all the effort that both countries are putting into it because no relationship is more vital for the world's future," Mr Abbott said.
He said the rise of China was "not without its deep complications for regional stability".
"But, so far, it has undeniably and indisputably been good for the world."
Mr Abbott has been asked in a series of meetings with US congressional leadership how Australia achieved its recent Japan and Korea free trade agreements.
"I suspect regional 'mateship' was at least a subliminal factor in reaching our FTA with Japan and Korea," he said.
Mr Abbott will later meet with US President Barack Obama at the White House.
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