During his visit to PNG on 3 June 2022 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi responded to a question on the future prospects of China-Australia relations.

State Councilor Wang noted that the crux of the difficulties in China-Australia relations in the past few years is that some political force in Australia insists on viewing China as a rival rather than a partner and framing China’s development as a threat rather than an opportunity. This has led to a significant retrogression of the many-year positive and pragmatic China policy by Australia.

State Councilor Wang said that the solution is looking at China and China-Australia relations in a sensible and positive way, uphold mutual respect, seek common ground while shelving differences, and create the necessary conditions for bringing bilateral relations back on the normal track.

State Councilor Wang stressed that to improve China-Australia relations, there is no “auto-pilot” mode. A reset requires concrete actions. This meets the aspirations of people in both countries and the trend of our time.