One Nation Leader Mark Latham has urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the foreign minister to build personal relationships with their Chinese counterparts in order to “fix the economic relationships”.

Mr Latham said Australia and China rely on each other “fairly heavily in key areas of trade”.

“I tend to think these difficult problems can escalate, you get media talk and crossfire; I would really urge the Prime Minister and the foreign minister to have as much face to face contact with their Chinese counterparts as possible, not to weaken Australia’s position.

“But you normally find, if there’s a personal relationship at the top that’s built up, and a little bit of trust, you can solve these problems pretty quickly.

“It’s a long while since Scott Morrison met with Xi Jingping. It’s a long while since we’ve had senior ministers in China, or they’ve had them here.

“The sooner we get back to stronger personal relationships we can fix the economic relationships which are very important for both countries.”