Chinese, Australian Foreign Ministers agree to promote steady development of bilateral ties

NEW YORK - Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Australian counterpart, Penny Wong, agreed on Thursday to promote the steady development of bilateral relations.

They met on the sidelines of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly.

Recalling their meeting in Bali, Indonesia two months ago, Wang said both sides stressed the importance of China-Australia relations, reconfirmed their comprehensive strategic partnership and agreed to bring bilateral ties back to the right track at an early date in the spirit of mutual respect.

After half a century of trials and hardships, Wang said that this relationship should become more mature, stable and resilient and that it should take its course, which serves the interests of both sides and is also the expectation of the two peoples.

He said that China is willing to work with Australia to take stock of past experience and properly address differences in order to promote the sound and steady development of bilateral ties.

For her part, Wong said Australia is willing to develop a steady, mutual beneficial and fruitful relationship with China on the basis of mutual respect.

Australia is ready to take the 50th anniversary as an opportunity and adopt a calm and forward-looking attitude to communicate candidly with the Chinese side, and carry out constructive exchanges in order to advance the Australia-China strategic partnership, she said.

Australia respects the UN Charter, adheres to the one-China policy and does not support the Taiwan independence, Wong said.

She hopes that an open international trade system can be maintained, because of the fact that trade between Australia and China benefits both sides.

Wang appreciated Australia's reaffirmation of the one-China policy. He said that the two sides need to work in the same direction, use more proactive thinking, send more positive signals, tell more win-win cooperation stories, and conduct more people-to-people and sub-national exchanges, so as to create a good atmosphere for the sound development of China-Australia relations.

Wang said that China strongly supports trade liberalization and facilitation, and is committed to building an open economy at a higher level and forging an open world economy.

Wang said that all parties should promote the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, abide by international law and the basic norms governing international relations and support the UN in playing a central role.

Wang spoke on China's principled position on issues related to Ukraine, the South China Sea and Xinjiang.