Former Prime Minister Paul Keating says Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has to emphasise the need for the United States and China to have better relations.
Mr Turnbull will meet U-S President Donald Trump for the first time next week in New York at commemorations for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea, where Australian and U-S troops fought together against Japan in World War Two.
Mr Keating has told the Lowy Institute in Sydney the most important thing for Australia is that there's peace in the Asia-Pacific region between the two major powers.
He says China has already gotten the better of the United States over the issue of Chinese islands in the South China Sea.
