Australia declared an end to diplomatic tensions with China on Monday, and urged Beijing to stay calm when disagreements flare in the media, reported Reuters.

Australia's ties with China have been tense for several months after China's state-owned metals firm Chinalco failed in a bid to take a $19.5 billion stake in Rio Tinto.

The arrest in China of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, an Australian, and three Chinese staff on suspicion of corporate espionage added to the diplomatic chill.

"We have been going through some tense times but we're confident that we're now effectively back to business as usual," Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said.

The thaw was on show when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd met China's Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of an East Asia summit in Thailand on Saturday. Rudd also announced that China's vice-Premier Li Keqiang would visit Australia, in a further sign that government-to-government relations were back on track.

He said China needed to understand media comment in Australia did not always reflect government policy and both sides needed to respond in a calm and measured way to public debate.