Australia's Minister for Trade Simon Crean on Monday offers his warm congratulations to the Chinese government and people on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

In an interview with Xinhua on Monday, Crean said "China's economy and society have developed remarkably in these sixty years." The country and its people "have much to celebrate."

Crean said there has also been a profound evolution in the relationship between Australia and China in this historic period.

"China is a natural economic partner for Australia, based on complementarity and mutual benefit in both trade and investment," he said.

"Strong people-to-people links have developed, with some 127,000 enrollments by Chinese students in Australia and 365,000 Chinese tourists visiting Australia each year," he said, adding that this situation is firmly in both countries' national interests.

"Australia and China's bilateral relationship rests on a solid foundation that should provide a model for our respective dealings with the rest of the world," he said.

Crean said, "it is important that we are both forward-looking, managing our differences on the basis of mutual trust and respect, and building on the many positive synergies in Australia-China relations."

(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2009)