Opening Remarks, Meeting with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi

Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: Foreign Minister Wang, thank you for meeting me here in Manila on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting and thank you for making time. This is in fact our twelfth meeting as Foreign Ministers and I hope we have made a contribution in accordance with the wishes of our leaders to improving our bilateral relationship. A peaceful, stable, and prosperous region is in all of our interests, and you would know that Australia has long-supported ASEAN-led architecture and ASEAN centrality. You also know that we are consistent in our approach to our relationship with China. You've often heard me say that we will cooperate where we can and disagree where we must, and we want to continue to engage because we believe that is in our national interest. You speak about the importance of mutual understanding. I agree, and I expect we will discuss our concerns today, including around peace and stability in our region, safe and professional military conduct, and the importance of transparency and reassurance of intent, as well as the issues of consular, human rights and other bilateral and regional matters. Our engagement and our dialogue and our relationship does enable us to advance the interests of both our countries and to raise concerns directly. That engagement also means furthering our practical cooperation, including supporting our shared priorities during China's APEC host year and I know the Prime Minister looks forward to visiting China in November for the APEC Leaders’ Meeting. Minister Wang, I always value our exchanges and I look forward to continuing our constructive dialogue today.