On the morning of September 8, 2016 local time, Premier Li Keqiang met at National Convention Center of Vientiane with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia.

Li Keqiang said that the current world economy undergoes slack recovery and the trend of deglobalization and trade protectionism are emerging. As two important countries in the region, China and Australia are each other's important cooperation partners. Both sides should continue to uphold mutual respect and equal treatment, enhance mutual trust, strengthen cooperation, jointly oppose trade protectionism and actively foster new economies, new business forms and new patterns. We can explore cooperation potential in innovation, investment and other fields and work together to forge a fairer and more friendly business environment, so as to better realize mutual benefit and win-win results.

Malcolm Turnbull noted that Australia-China relations enjoy robust development in various areas. The Australian side welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in the country and take advantage of the new opportunities and new business forms of the two countries' economic development to strengthen cooperation in innovation and expand bilateral economic relations, so as to push for greater development of Australia-China relations.

When talking about the South China Sea issue, Li Keqiang stressed that the current South China Sea situation is moving towards a positive direction. China and ASEAN countries reached outcome documents on relevant maritime issues yesterday, which is conductive to managing differences and maintaining regional peace and stability. It is hoped that Australia can support the efforts made by China and the ASEAN to resolve differences and expand consensus as well as play a constructive role in promoting regional unity, cooperation, peace and stability so as to jointly turn the South China Sea into a sea of peaceful and friendly cooperation.

Malcolm Turnbull expressed that the Australian side welcomes the positive progress China and the ASEAN have made in their dialogues and consultations on relevant maritime issues. Australia is not a claimant country to the South China Sea, and will not take sides in this regard. It is hoped that the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea can be reached at an early date, so as to peacefully resolve related disputes and safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea area.