Former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop admits she’s sympathetic to the cause of the senior MPs dealing with the strained relationship with China.

Ms Bishop, now the Chancellor of the Australian National University, told Deborah Knight the increasing tension was of concern, given China is Australia’s biggest trading partner.

“Managing the China relationship is complex, it’s challenging,” she said.

“The response of Chinese diplomats is often hard to gauge, they often resort to threats of economic retaliation.

“That’s not usual diplomatic practice.

“You have to be ever managing this relationship, it has to be a bilateral relationship.”

Ms Bishop joined Deborah to discuss appearing on the latest episode of the SBS show, Who Do You Think You Are.

“It was a fascinating experience to go through this process,” she said.

“They came back with two branches of my family tree about which I knew nothing about

“It absolutely intrigued me.”

The episode airs tonight on SBS at 7.30pm.

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

Image: Julie Bishop, Instagram