China willing to expand cooperation with Australia: Wang Yi

China is willing to work with Australia in fostering more common interests and building a fair, transparent business environment for enterprises from both countries, in a bid to accelerate their bilateral relationship.

The remarks were made by Chinese Foreign Ministry Wang Yi, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, during the seventh China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

Wang noted that China is willing to hold high-level exchanges and dialogues with Australia, and is ready to resume their negotiation mechanism in various fields.

The two parties could make full use of the advantages of their economic complementarity to keep exploring cooperation potential in aspects of new energy, digital economy, green development and climate change mitigation, in order to expand common interest of the two countries, Wang said.

In addition, Wang called on Australia to take practical measures to ensure principles of market economy and fair competition, in providing a fair, just, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese businesses and investors.

Speaking on the development experience of China-Australia relationship, Wang noted that economies of China and Australia are highly complementary and have significant growth potential.

"In 2023, nearly 80 percent of Australia's foreign trade surplus came from trade with China, despite global uncertainties," he said.

During the dialogue, Wong stated that Australia and China share a deep connection in history, trade and culture, and bilateral relationship should not be inhibited by differences. Wong said Australia is ready to control disputes with China and promote broad cooperation on economy, trade and humanity to benefit people of both countries.

The two sides agreed to initiate more cooperation between bilateral departments responsible for diplomacy, trade, technology, education and law enforcement, and launch a dialogue addressing marine issues. The two sides agreed to take more measures to facilitate personnel exchanges between the two countries.