Australia's Wong says China meeting a 'first step' in stabilising relationship
Australia's Wong says China meeting a 'first step' in stabilising relationship
Australian Foreign Minister PennyWongsaid ameetingwith her Chinese counterpart was "afirst steptowardsstabilisingtherelationship" but it would take time for Beijing to remove trade "blockages" on Australia.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi metWongon the sidelines of the G20meetingin Bali on Friday evening, the firstmeetingbetween foreign ministers of the major trading partners in three years.
"We both recognised it is thefirst step", Wongtold reporters after themeeting.
She had raised the cases of detained Australian journalists Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun, and the "trade blockages"Chinahas imposed on Australian products, she said.
"It remains the government's position that those trade blockages should be removed",she said.
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ChinaisAustralia'slargest trading partner and the biggest customer for its iron ore, but relations have deteriorated in recent years.
Chinaimposed trade sanctions on Australian products ranging from coal to seafood and wine in response to policies and decisions such as Canberra's call for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19, its 5G network ban on Huawei, and foreign interference investigations.
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Beijing has called for Australia to take "concrete actions" to restart therelationship.
"We are a government that has made certain decisions on the basis of our national interests and our national security and our sovereignty and we won't be resiling from those", Wongsaid.
It was inAustralia'sandChina's interests for therelationshipto be stabilised, however "that's going to take time", she added.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters ahead of themeetingon Friday that "a sound and steadyChina-Australiarelationshipis in the interests of both peoples".
"A steady and healthy politicalrelationshipis the prerequisite and guarantee for practical cooperation. There is no auto-pilot mode for improvingChina-Australia relations", he said at a regular briefing in Beijing.
Themeetingbetween Australia andChinain Bali comes days ahead of a Pacific islands leadersmeetingin Fiji.China's push to extend its security ties in the South Pacific, which is opposed by Australia, will be discussed at themeetingin Fiji.
The "frank" discussion with Wang also covered the security and stability of the region,Wongsaid.
On Friday,Australia'sPrime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Pacific region was in a period of strategic competition andChinahad become "more aggressive".
"Australia’s position is that we will continue to engage and co-operate, we want to co-operate withChinawhere we can. But we will stand up for Australian values when we must", he told reporters in Sydney.
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