Yang Jiechi
Following his nomination as Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd visited China's foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, before visiting Japan, and subsequently organised a meeting between Yang and the Australian foreign minister, Stephen Smith, in which Australia unilaterally announced its departure from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue amidst Chinese displeasure at Australia's participation. Within Australia, this decision was seen as motivated by the uncertainty of China-United States relations and by the fact that Australia's principle economic partner, China, was not its principle strategic partner. Rudd may furthermore have feared regional escalations in conflict and attempted to diffuse these via an "Asia-Pacific Union."