China urges Australia to contribute more to mutual trust, pragmatic cooperation

BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Tuesday urged Australia to contribute more to enhancing mutual trust and promoting pragmatic cooperation.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks in response to a recent speech by Frances Adamson, Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, regarding China-Australia relations.

"China has always been of the view that a stable and sound China-Australia relationship serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples," Wang told a daily press briefing.

He said that the severe difficulty now facing bilateral ties was, in essence, caused by Australia's gross interference in China's internal affairs, its undermining of China's interests and its discriminatory trade practices against China. "The responsibility for the situation does not lie with China at all."

It was Australia that first barred Chinese enterprises from participating in its 5G network construction on trumped-up charges, said Wang, adding that Australia had also frequently denied investment of Chinese companies in the country under the pretext of "national security," and arbitrarily raided Chinese journalists based in the country.

Australia has also blatantly torn up cooperation agreements between the two sides and wantonly damaged normal exchanges and cooperation, the spokesperson said.

He urged Australia to view China and China's development in an objective and rational manner, contribute more to enhancing mutual trust and promoting pragmatic cooperation, and go no farther down the wrong path.