China ready to work with Austria for better global governance -- premier

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Global Governance Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping has provided guidance for reforming and improving global governance, and China is ready to work with Austria to strengthen multilateral communication and coordination and work together to improve global governance, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Tuesday.

Li, who is in New York for the general debate of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, made the remarks when meeting with Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker.

As the two countries have always respected each other and treated each other as equals since the establishment of their diplomatic relations, Li said, the relationship has withstood the test of a changing international landscape and grown steadily on the whole.

In recent years, under the strategic guidance of Chinese President Xi and Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, the two sides have enriched the dimensions of their relations and upgraded their relationship to a friendly strategic partnership, Li said, adding that bilateral cooperation has been progressing in various fields, bringing tangible benefits to both sides.

China is ready to take the 55th anniversary of bilateral ties next year as an opportunity to step up high-level exchanges, consolidate political mutual trust, and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, so as to push for more pragmatic results, said the Chinese premier.

Li also expressed the hope that Austria will abide by the one-China principle and make efforts to build a solid political foundation for bilateral ties.

The Chinese and Austrian economies enjoy strong complementarity and numerous converging interests, offering vast space and potential for deepening cooperation, Li said.

China is ready to continue leveraging bilateral exchange mechanisms such as the joint commissions on economy and trade, as well as on scientific and technological cooperation with Austria, so as to promote the continuous expansion and upgrade of bilateral trade, he said.

Li called on both sides to strengthen cooperation in areas such as green transition and digital economy and push for innovation, sustainability and high-quality growth in industrial development.

And China encourages more established Chinese enterprises to invest in Austria, he said.

The two sides should also expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges, facilitate personnel exchanges, and foster new highlights in culture and tourism cooperation, Li said.

Li called on Austria, a key member of the European Union (EU), to prompt the EU to view China-EU relations from a strategically autonomous and long-term perspective, adopt a positive and pragmatic policy towards China, and work with China to safeguard multilateralism and free trade so as to deliver more benefits to China and the EU, as well as the rest of the world.

For his part, Stocker noted that China is one of Austria's most important trading partners, and bilateral economic and trade relations have witnessed strong development.

He said that the Austrian government firmly adheres to the one-China policy and does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country or conduct official exchanges with Taiwan.

As next year will mark the 55th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, Stocker said the Austrian side is ready to enhance high-level exchanges with China and consolidate the long-term friendship.

He also called on both sides to tap cooperation potential, and expand cooperation in various fields such as economy and trade, tourism and culture to push for greater development of the Austria-China friendly strategic partnership, adding that Austria looks forward to welcoming more Chinese tourists.

Austria, he said, looks forward to strengthening collaboration with China in multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations and promoting the reform and improvement of the global governance system.

The Austrian side also stands ready to play an active role in promoting the development of EU-China relations, he added.