Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong will visit China for the first time in four years, in a sign of rapprochement between the two countries on the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.
Wong will meet with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to participate in the sixth Australia-China Strategic and Foreign Dialogue, which was last held in 2018.
«Australia seeks a stable relationship with China; we will cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and engage in the national interest,» Wong has explained alongside the country’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, through a statement.
Thus, the ‘premier’ has highlighted the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. «In 1972, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam made a bold decision to recognize the importance of engagement and cooperation between our two nations and peoples,» he explained.
«In the decades since, China has grown to become one of the world’s largest economies and Australia’s largest trading partner. Trade between Australia and China, as well as strong commercial, cultural and people-to-people ties have delivered significant benefits to both countries,» reads the missive released by his office.
The last time an Australian minister traveled to China was when then Trade Minister Simon Birmingham visited the Asian giant in November 2019, ABC reports.
Since Labor’s victory in May’s federal election, lines of communication between Canberra and Beijing have been reopened. Albanese met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit, the first meeting between the two leaders since 2016.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
