Chinese, Australian FMs hold phone talks on ties

BEIJING, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday held a phone conversation with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong at the latter's request.

Australia and China have maintained effective communication and contact recently, said Wong, adding that through unremitting efforts, bilateral relations have witnessed positive changes.

Australia will continue to adhere to the one-China policy and develop more stable and mutually beneficial relations with China on the basis of mutual respect, she said.

Noting that sound Australia-China relations are not contradictory to safeguarding the two countries' respective national interests, Wong said Australia has no intention to magnify existing differences, and is ready to properly handle specific issues in a responsible manner within the framework of Australia-China comprehensive strategic partnership and make continuous efforts to improve and strengthen the two countries' relations.

For his part, Wang said the common interests of China and Australia far outweigh their differences, and the easing and improvement of China-Australia relations conforms to the fundamental interests of both sides and the common expectations of the two peoples and the international community.

Wang said that the two sides should continue to stick to the consensus on the basic position of being comprehensive strategic partners each other, uphold the spirit of mutual respect, seek common ground while reserving differences, and work together towards the goals of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, so as to rebuild mutual trust between the two countries and get bilateral ties back on track.

During this process, China and Australia need to gradually address respective legitimate concerns and jointly make positive contributions to tackling current global challenges, noted Wang.