Philip Wen is the China correspondent for Fairfax Media.
Huang Xiangmo, a highly-influential figure in Australian-Chinese business circles, has attracted widespread media scrutiny after donating more than $1 million to both sides of politics.
Chinese businessmen with links to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop donated half a million dollars to the minister's Western Australian division of the Liberal Party during the past two years, raising questions about the propriety of foreign donations being linked to ministers with trade and diplomatic responsibilities.
As Malcolm Turnbull prepares to embark on his first official visit to China as prime minister, some 60 Chinese community leaders in Australia gathered in Sydney urging him to watch his words when discussing the South China Sea in Beijing.
Julie Bishop has arrived to a frosty reception in Beijing after being rapped over Australia's stance on the South China Sea ahead of a series of high-level meetings in the Chinese capital.
Andrew Robb has described the trade union movement's opposition to Australia's free trade agreement with China as "nothing short of economic sabotage".
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has insisted jobs and economic growth must remain front and centre of the G20 agenda, pushing back against renewed momentum for climate change to be discussed at the meeting and declaring he is not focused on "what might happen in 16 years time".
Clive Palmer's profuse apology to China after his extraordinary outburst last week has been met with scepticism from experts and a cautious welcome from the Abbott government, which said it should have come earlier.