By Xinhua
Canberra : Australia Tuesday said it will no longer take part in joint strategic dialogues with the US, Japan and India.
After meeting his visiting Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told at a press conference here that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s government would not again join in a security dialogue with the US, Japan and India as the previous government of John Howard had done.
“One of the things that caused China concern last year was a meeting of that strategic dialogue,” Smith said.
“I indicated when I was in Japan that Australia would not be proposing to have a dialogue of that nature again,” he said.
But Australia will continue with a trilateral security dialogue with Japan and the US, the minister said.
“Our alliance with the US continues to form the fundamental bedrock of our defence security and strategic arrangements,” he added.
Yang, who is visiting Australia to take part in the first-round of strategic dialogue with his Australian counterpart, said he had briefed the Australian government on his country’s relationship with the US.
“We did discuss China-US relationship and the strategy dialogue,” Yang said.
“We believe that last year China and US relationship actually remained stable and some new progress has been made in some very important areas,” he said.
Yang also wished Australia all the best in its relationship with Japan.
“We know that Japan is a very good trade and dialogue partner of Australia, so we wish that you would further improve your relationship,” he noted.
Yang started a two-day visit to Australia Monday and was scheduled to head back to China later Tuesday.