China's top legislator holds talks with Australia's speaker of House of Representatives

China's top legislator Zhao Leji held talks with Australia's Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick in Beijing on Sunday.

Zhao, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said that the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year has provided new strategic guidance for the development of China-Australia relations.

China is willing to work with Australia to strengthen friendly exchanges, enhance political mutual trust, expand practical cooperation, and promote the sustained and steady development of the China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership, he said.

Noting that treating each other with equality, seeking common ground while shelving differences, and pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation serve the fundamental interests of both countries and their peoples, Zhao said that both sides should respect each other's core interests and major concerns while properly handling differences and sensitive issues.

He called on the two countries to deepen practical cooperation, strengthen collaboration in traditional areas, and expand cooperation in fields such as green development and the digital economy.

Both sides should continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in education, culture, tourism, sub-national governments and youth to foster a solid public foundation for China-Australia friendship, Zhao said.

He emphasized the need to enhance multilateral coordination and work for a more just and equitable global governance system.

The NPC is willing to work with Australia's House of Representatives to strengthen all-level friendly exchanges between their legislative bodies, promote the formulation of legal documents conducive to bilateral cooperation, and enhance communication and collaboration within multilateral mechanisms such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Zhao said.

He also briefed the Australian side on China's efforts to promote green development, adding that China is willing to share experiences and deepen cooperation with Australia to jointly contribute to global green transition.

Noting that Australia-China relations have enjoyed steady development, Dick said both countries have benefited from deepening economic and trade ties.

The delegation members visiting China come from different regions and political parties, but they all hope to see Australia-China relations advance steadily and sustainably, he added.

Australia adheres to the one-China policy and hopes to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China across all fields to achieve mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, Dick said.

The Australian House of Representatives is willing to strengthen communication and exchanges with China's NPC to provide a solid foundation for practical cooperation between the two sides, he said.

China's top legislator holds talks with Australia's speaker of House of Representatives

The ongoing China-ASEAN Expo serves as a bridge for China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to boost trade flows, helping both sides reap shared development dividends.

Scheduled to run from Sept 17 to 21 in Nanning City of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the event draws more than 3,400 exhibitors from over 70 countries and regions.

This year, Timor-Leste is participating for the first time as a full ASEAN member and a co-host of the expo, with participants noting results have exceeded expectations, bolstered by China's vast market.

"I brought 60 packages of 250-gram coffee, which would be sold out in one day. Now I'm thinking that China market is open for everybody and it's very huge," said an exhibitor from Timor-Leste.

Participants also hailed the construction of China's Pinglu Canal, which officially opened to traffic on Wednesday.

The 134.2-km-long canal runs from Hengzhou, a county-level city in Guangxi, to the Beibu Gulf, the closest maritime outlet for much of southwest China.

The canal becomes a cost-competitive river-sea intermodal shortcut connecting ASEAN producers with the vast consumer market in southwest China, said the participants.

"In the past, shipments into the southwest China usually went by sea to Guangzhou and then overlands. Too many handover made it hard to keep products fresh. Losses were high and transit time was unreliable. Now that the canal is open, we can enter [the] Guangxi [Zhuang Autonomous Region] directly from the Beibu Gulf and move on to Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan restaurants, faster onto the supermarket shelves and tables in the southeast [part of China]," said an exhibitor from Vietnam.

With the formal signing of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) 3.0 Upgrade Protocol in Oct 2025, bilateral cooperation has expanded beyond economic and trade areas to emerging fields such as the digital economy and the green economy.

"I am looking for an investor to develop agriculture and integrated tourism with us in Malaysia," said an exhibitor from Malaysia.

Economic ties between China and ASEAN have continued to deepen. Bilateral trade topped 1 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time in 2025, totaling 1.05 trillion dollars, up 7.4 percent year on year. In the first seven months of 2026, trade between the two sides reached 744.41 billion dollars, an increase of 24.7 percent year on year and accounting for 21.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.

China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years, while ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for six successive years.

China-ASEAN Expo boosts bilateral cooperation, delivers shared dividends