The ABC will have a correspondent based in China for the first time in nearly five years after the previous reporter left in September 2020.
Allyson Horn will take up the posting in Beijing in the coming weeks in what the ABC says is a "significant milestone".
"We are thrilled to have a correspondent return to China," ABC director of news Justin Stevens said.
"Bringing the best coverage of China and its people to our audiences is incredibly important and having an Australian journalist reporting this story on the ground for us will significantly bolster our reporting."
In September 2020, Bill Birtles, the ABC's correspondent based in Beijing, left the country after a five-day diplomatic stand-off over a national security case.
Seven Chinese police officers arrived on Birtles's doorstep in the middle of the night, demanding he submit to questioning.
The ABC has not had a permanent correspondent based in China since his departure.
Last year, ABC chair Kim Williams said he was "eager to restore our representation in Beijing".
"We need to be in Beijing to ensure clear and regular reporting from the dynamic nation that China is, with its many profound economic, political and diplomatic resonances around the world," he said.
Long history in China
The first ABC bureau in China was opened in 1973, with Paul Raffaele being the first Australian journalist to be based in Mao's China.
At the time, only a handful of foreign journalists were allowed in the country.
During the past 50 years, the ABC has appointed more than two dozen China correspondents, including TV presenter Jane Hutcheon in 1996, Eric Campbell in 2001 and Birtles in 2015.
The ABC's head of international and Indigenous, Suzanne Dredge, said ABC journalists have reported on the ground in China for more than half a century.
She added that ABC reporters in China have kept "the Australian public informed about stories of global significance with a focus on the people, economy and China's position on the international stage".
Dredge said Horn's appointment reinforced the ABC's commitment to strengthening coverage in the Asia Pacific region.
"We are delighted she will start this next chapter in the ABC's long legacy of reporting from Beijing," she said.
Horn has more than a decade of experience working for ABC News across radio, TV and online. Her first foreign posting was in 2022 as the ABC's Middle East Correspondent, based in Jerusalem.
"Allyson Horn is a formidable journalist," Stevens added.
"Her reporting is brave and authoritative and she's always committed to giving a voice to ordinary people."
