China willing to promote economic, trade cooperation with Australia: official

BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to work with Australia to expand cooperation while managing differences in line with important consensus between the leaders of the two countries, in order to push forward bilateral economic and trade cooperation, a Ministry of Commerce official said on Thursday.

Yang Tao told a press conference that the state leaders' meeting in Bali, Indonesia, had pointed the way to improve the China-Australia relations.

When answering a media question about whether China will abolish trade restrictions on Australian cotton, rock lobsters, wine and barley, Yang said that China's inspection and quarantine measures and trade remedies abide strictly by domestic laws and World Trade Organization rules, and it is clearly inappropriate to misinterpret them as restrictive measures.

Stressing that the bulk of China-Australia trade is from enterprises, Yang said that companies in the two countries make business decisions independently, based on demand and market conditions.

Yang also said that Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell will hold video talks next week.