On Dec. 6, 2013, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop co-chaired the first round of China-Australia Diplomatic and Strategic Dialogue in Beijing.

Wang Yi said that for the 41 years since China and Australia established diplomatic ties, the bilateral relationship has continued to develop, bringing important benefits to both sides. After the Australian new government took office, the two sides reached important consensus on jointly promoting the China-Australia strategic partnership.

Wang Yi pointed out that the most important experience accumulated over the decades of China-Australia relationship is to respect each other's core interests, to take care of each other's respective major concerns, and to foster mutual trust, which are the foundation of the bilateral strategic partnership, as well as the essential prerequisite for bilateral cooperation in the development of various fields. Australia's statements and actions on China's establishment of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) have damaged the mutual trust and affected the healthy development of the relations between the two countries. All sectors of the Chinese society and the Chinese people are deeply dissatisfied with it, which we believe the two countries don't want to see.

Wang Yi said that the China-Australia relationship is in a critical period at the moment. China hopes that Australia can start from a strategic and long-term perspective, move towards the same direction with China, properly handle sensitive issues, actively promote the strategic mutual trust, and continue to expand pragmatic cooperation to ensure the China-Australia strategic partnership stays on the correct development direction.

The two sides also had an exchange of views on the Korean Peninsula, Syria, Iran and other international and regional hotspot issues of common concern, as well as APEC, G20 and others.