Beijing and Canberra should be cooperating in the South Pacific and not be cast as strategic rivals, China’s top diplomat said on Thursday, after Australia launched a multi-billion dollar fund to counter China’s rising influence in the region.
BEIJING/SYDNEY (Reuters) — Beijing and Canberra should be cooperating in the South Pacific and not be cast as strategic rivals, China’s top diplomat said on Thursday, after Australia launched a multi-billion dollar fund to counter China’s rising influence in the region.
Standing alongside Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi made the conciliatory remarks after a meeting in Beijing widely billed as a step toward re-setting bilateral ties after a lengthy diplomatic chill.
Wang said that he had agreed with Payne that the two countries could combine their respective strengths and embark on trilateral cooperation with Pacific island countries.
“We are not rivals, and we can absolutely become cooperation partners,” Wang told reporters, describing the meeting as important after the recent “ups and downs” in the relationship.
Payne said the discussions were “valuable, full and candid”.
“We’ve realistically acknowledged today that in a relationship as dynamic as ours… there will be from time to time differences,” she said later at a separate news briefing.
“But what is important about that is how we manage those and we are focused on managing them respectfully, mindful of the tremendous opportunities the relationship presents to both our nations.”
Ties became strained late last year, when the previous Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, accused China of interfering in its domestic affairs.
