On 24th November, Consul-General He Lanjing attended the celebration of the 50th anniversary of China-Australia diplomatic relations organized by South Australian business community. Premier of South Australia Peter Malinauskas, officials from the Department of Trade and Investment, and more than 60 representatives of local business associations and business leaders attended the event. The event was co-organised by the Australia China Business Council South Australia (ACBCSA), the China Chamber of Commerce in Australia Adelaide (CCCA Adelaide ) and the Shandong Business Office in Oceania, and comprised three stages including a roundtable forum, a results presentation and a public communication event.

Consul-General He said that in the 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Australia, mutual respect and mutual benefit have been the main themes of China-Australia relations, and the two countries have benefited greatly from practical cooperation in various fields and at various levels. South Australia and China have highly complementary economies and a deep foundation of humanistic exchanges, and China has been South Australia's largest trading partner, the top export destination and the top source of imports for many years continuously. Shandong and South Australia formed a friendship relationship in 1986. The good practical cooperation and friendly exchanges have deepened mutual understanding, given a strong impetus to the economic development of both sides and brought tangible benefits to the people of both sides. It has been demonstrated repeatedly that a healthy and stable bilateral relationship is in the fundamental interests of both China and Australia and their peoples. Over the past few years, China-Australia relations have encountered serious difficulties, and it is the common aspiration of the two peoples to improve and develop the relationship. The new Australian government coming to power this year has provided an opportunity to improve China-Australia relations. In the recent period, the two countries have reaffirmed at a high level the positioning of their comprehensive strategic partnership, conducted a series of fruitful exchanges and contacts, and reached important consensus. The successful meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Albanese at the G20 Summit on the 15th of this month was of great significance for the future development of the relationship between the two countries and has strengthened our confidence in getting the relationship back on track. We are ready to work together with the Australian side to continuously consolidate the positive trend in our relations and promote an early return to the right track.

Ms. He said that the South Australian business community is a direct participant and beneficiary of the healthy and stable development of the China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership, and has made outstanding contributions to promoting pragmatic economic and trade cooperation and friendly exchanges between China and South Australia over the years, making pragmatic and rational voices for China-Australia friendship with their own actions, including organising today's forum. I highly appreciate this and look forward to your continued active and constructive role in improving and deepening China-Australia relations in the future.

Ms. He pointed out that the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has made overall plans and arrangements for China's development in the current and future period, emphasising the need to promote Chinese-style modernisation in a comprehensive manner. At the recently concluded APEC Business Leaders Summit, President Xi Jinping gave a comprehensive explanation on promoting Chinese-style modernisation, reaffirming that China will adhere to the people-centred development concept, declaring that it will unswervingly promote a high level of opening up to the outside world, advance economic optimisation and upgrading, adhere to green and low-carbon development, create green industries and green finance, and other policies. A modernising China will bring important development opportunities to all countries in the world and give a strong impetus to international cooperation, and will provide new opportunities for China-Australia cooperation in areas such as climate change. The Consulate-General will continue to act as a bridge to promote practical cooperation between China and South Australia, and work with the South Australian government and all those who concern and support friendship between China and South Australia to deepen and expand practical cooperation and friendly exchanges between China and South Australia, and work together to create a bright future for China-Australia relations.

Premier Malinauskas said that since Australia established diplomatic relations with China in 1972 under the leadership of then Prime Minister Whitlam, the development of friendly relations with China has been one of the priorities, and the joint commitments made by the leaders of the two countries during their recent meeting at the G20 Summit were exciting and worthy of appreciation and celebration. Mr. Malinauskas also quoted Whitlam as saying that "the friendly and cooperative relationship between Australia and China is both a historical necessity and a benefit to both peoples". He highlighted that South Australia has been a particular beneficiary of China's development achievements over the past 50 years and that China's success is also South Australia's success. He said that the forum and networking event was a very interesting discussion on climate change and carbon emission reduction, and that China and South Australia are highly complementary in terms of energy and there will be many opportunities for cooperation in promoting the green economy transition, especially with Shandong Province.

Mr. Sean Keenihan, President of the Australia-China Business Association South Australia Branch, briefly introduced the main outcomes of the roundtable and the consensus reached between Chinese and Australian entrepreneurs, stressing that South Australia and China, especially Shandong Province, have a wide scope for future cooperation in the field of low-carbon green energy.

At the event, Ms. He interacted with Premier Malinauskas and the participating Chinese and Australian entrepreneurs in a friendly and warm atmosphere. They all talked about the prospects of China-Australian friendship and cooperation and their hopes for a brighter future for the relationship between the two countries, and were eager to see the relationship get back on track soon and go to the next level.