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Chinese Premier calls for building more stable strategic partnership in meeting with Australia PM

Global Times

By Wang Qi and Ma Tong Published: Oct 27, 2025 06:06 PM

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday voiced China's readiness to maintain strategic communication with Australia, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and keep working together to build a more mature, stable and productive China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership, Xinhua News Agency reported.

This will deliver more benefits to the two peoples and make greater contributions to peace, stability and development in the region and the world, he said during talks with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of the leaders' meetings on East Asian cooperation held in Malaysia.

In July, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Albanese and mapped out new plans for deepening China-Australia relations, Li said. Over the past months, bilateral ties have continued to show a positive trend, with steady progress in exchanges and cooperation across various fields, he said.

For his part, Albanese noted that his country is committed to promoting the mature and stable development of bilateral relations, according to Xinhua.

Australia, he said, stands ready to enhance high-level exchanges and dialogues at all levels with China, deepen mutual understanding, properly manage differences, and expand cooperation in such fields as trade, green economy, minerals, climate change, culture and people-to-people exchanges, among others.

"Australia's relationship with China matters. For our economy, our security and the stability of our region," Albanese wrote in an X-post after his meeting with Premier Li on Monday, sharing images of the meeting.

Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Monday that a defining feature of China-Australia relations in recent years has been strong top-down leadership driving momentum.

"Such frequent high-level exchanges are not often seen between China and other Western countries," said Chen.

The meeting also came following the recent incident over China's countermeasures against an Australian P-8A warplane intruding into China's territorial airspace over Xisha. In addition, the rare earth deal signed by US and Australia leaders last week, is widely viewed as aimed at countering China.

On Monday, Albanese described both sides as "friends," saying that "we have disagreements and friends are able to discuss issues frankly," according to a statement from the Australian government.

In this context, continuation of high-level exchanges between the two countries reflect a shared willingness to dispel misunderstandings and managing differences, Chen said.

During the meeting with Albanese, Premier Li also mentioned that China is willing to strengthen the alignment of development strategies and policy coordination with Australia.

Li expressed China's readiness to leverage the role of institutional dialogues, including the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue and the joint economic commission, and to actively explore ways to advance the review and upgrading of the bilateral free trade agreement.

These efforts, he said, will further deepen practical economic and trade cooperation and tap the potential for cooperation in such fields as green economy, high-tech industries and the digital sector.

China will continue to support more competent Chinese enterprises in investing in Australia, Li said, voicing hope that Australia will provide an open, transparent and non-discriminatory environment for their investments and operations.

The Chinese premier called on both sides to advance exchanges and cooperation in youth, education, tourism and other fields, and work together to nurture the friendly sentiments between the peoples.

Despite differences with China on certain issues arising from alliance dynamics or strategic priorities, Australia has held a pragmatic and constructive approach to maintain trade stability and bilateral relations—recognizing that this alignment serves the core national interests of both countries, Sun Chang, a research fellow with the Institute of Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Monday.

China has remained Australia's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, official data show.

By noting that 2025 marks the start of the second decade of the China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership as well as the 10th anniversary of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement implementation, Chen said the bilateral cooperation between the two sides has now reached at a pivotal moment for deeper, more substantive progress.

The fields emphasized by Premier Li—the green economy, high-tech industries, and digital fields—represent key areas of structural complementarity between the Chinese and Australian economies, Sun said.

"Both nations are steadfast in meeting their emissions reduction commitments and international responsibilities, backed by strong capabilities in technological innovation and scientific research," Sun said. "These shared goals open vast opportunities for collaboration across markets, technology, and R&D."

Li also stressed that as the current global governance deficit is widening, China is willing to strengthen coordination with Australia in multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization to push for the continuous improvement of global governance.

While Albanese said that Australia supports China hosting the 2026 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, and is willing to maintain communication and collaboration with China to safeguard the free trade system and promote regional stability and prosperity, according to Xinhua.

Leveraging the ASEAN Summit, closer regional cooperation among China, Australia, and ASEAN will serve as a powerful bulwark against rising global protectionism, according to Sun.

"China has long enjoyed deep and stable economic ties with ASEAN, while Australia has increasingly prioritized the bloc for economic diversification and expanded trade engagement," Sun said, "Building on this enduring foundation of bilateral and multilateral partnership, the three sides are keen to proactively seize new opportunities and foster fresh drivers of growth amid heightened global economic uncertainty."