"Had China's leaders chosen to reach an armistice with the Japanese, Japan would have been able to redeploy its armies in China in our direction," said Turnbull. "Without China's endurance and courage in the face of Japan our war history may have ended very differently indeed."

Turnbull's cabinet colleague and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop had said in an interview in January last year that "(Australia's) single most important economic partner is, in fact, the United States."

Turnbull, however, has described China as Australia's most important trading partner, and the key to a prosperous Australia.

His understanding of the Chinese business scene came largely due to his time as an investment banker, when - first as principal of Whitlam, Turnbull & Co. then later at Goldman Sachs - he was directly exposed to the machinations of China's corporate world.

Also, his son, Alex, is married to a Chinese woman, whose maiden name was Wang Yiwen. Not since former prime minister Kevin Rudd has Australia - or indeed the world - had a leader with such a strong Chinese affiliation and understanding as Turnbull.

This week, Australia's newest premier - amid all the other issues competing for his attention - has returned repeatedly to his pet theme: the success of ChAFTA. It represented, he said, a " huge opportunity" that Australia cannot let slip.

"We are in the most exciting, creative, disruptive time of human history," Turnbull said.

"China is a big part of it - perhaps the biggest single part of it - and we need to be as mindful as the Chinese are of the need to re-balance our economy. And in this, the shift of the Chinese leadership to focus on the 'qualitative' features of its economy, presents a huge opportunity for Australian businesses."