On October 26, 2009, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei gave an interview to Xinhua on Vice Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea from Oct. 29 to Nov. 5.

"This is an important visit paid recently by a Chinese leader to the south Pacific region," He said. China, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea are all located in the Asia-Pacific region and their economies are highly complementary. Australia is China's eighth largest trading partner and an important supplier of energy resources. China's trade volume with Australia in 2008 reached 59.66 billion U.S. dollars. New Zealand is the first developed country which signed and implemented the bilateral free trade agreement with China. Both Australia and New Zealand recognized China's full market economy status. Papua New Guinea for many years has remained China's largest trading partner and investment destination in the Pacific island region. The Chinese people share very close ties with the people of the three countries. According to incomplete statistics, at present, there are 130,000 Chinese students studying in Australia, and about 34,870 studying in New Zealand. In 2008, Chinese tourists visiting Australia as the first stop reached 413,000 person/times and those visiting New Zealand as the first stop 73,500 person/times. The people-to-people exchanges between China and Papua New Guinea are also very active. "Facts show that the development of the relations between China and the three countries has a solid foundation, and accords with the common interests of both sides," He noted.

He said the Chinese government had always attached great importance to developing friendly and cooperative relations with the three countries. "We always grasp the development direction of bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, adhere to the five principles of peaceful co-existence, and stick to the spirit of mutual benefit to strengthen bilateral exchange, dialogue and cooperation," He noted. China's relationship with the three countries has made considerable progress in recent years. Both sides have maintained frequent high-level exchange and their leaders have stayed in regular contacts through exchange of visits, meetings on multilateral occasions and correspondence. Bilateral exchanges at the ministerial and other levels are very close and political trust has been deepening. Both sides have carried out fruitful cooperation in a wide range of areas including economy, trade, energy, resources, science, education, culture and health and cooperated well in multilateral affairs. Currently the international situation is undergoing profound and complex changes and seeking peace, development and cooperation is common voice of our times. In many ways, China's relations with the three countries enjoy a huge potential and rare opportunity for development.

He said that the three governments attached great importance to the visit by Vice Premier Li. During the visit, Li will meet with the leaders of the three nations respectively, attend the signing ceremonies of relevant bilateral agreements and make extensive contacts with officials of local governments, businessmen and people from all circles. It is believed that with the joint efforts of both sides, the visit will surely be a complete success. The visit would help cement political trust and traditional friendship between China and the three nations, promote their friendly exchanges and pragmatic cooperation in trade, energy, resources, science, education, culture and health, and strengthen bilateral coordination in international and regional affairs, so as to push bilateral ties to a new level, he noted.