On August 31, 2026, Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), held talks in Beijing with Walter Rosenkranz, President of the National Council of Austria.

Zhao said that in 2018, President Xi Jinping and President Alexander Van der Bellen jointly established the China-Austria friendly strategic partnership, ushering in a new stage in the development of bilateral relations, and that fruitful results have been achieved in practical cooperation across various fields. Noting that this year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Austria, Zhao said China is ready to work with Austria to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, consolidate traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and constantly enrich the China-Austria friendly strategic partnership.

Zhao called on the two sides to  consolidate political mutual trust, sustain the sound momentum of high-level exchanges, enhance policy communication, and accommodate each other’s core interests and major concerns. They should expand economic and trade cooperation, strengthen collaboration in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, the digital economy and green development, and promote the development of their industries in a new, green and sound way. They should strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, adopt more practical measures to facilitate two-way travel, and cement the public foundation of bilateral relations. They should deepen multilateral coordination and cooperation, step up coordination  in international affairs, jointly uphold the authority and status of the United Nations and the free trade and multilateral trading system, and promote the building of a more equitable global governance system. China is willing to properly resolve differences and frictions in economic and trade cooperation with the European Union through dialogue and consultation, and achieve a dynamic balance in the course of development.

Zhao emphasized that the NPC of China is ready to deepen multi-level, multi-field dialogue and exchanges with the Austrian National Council, candidly exchange views on issues of shared interest, enhance mutual understanding, and provide legal safeguards for the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries. He also briefed on China’s AI development and governance, expressing China’s readiness to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation and the exchange of legislative experience with Austria, and jointly seize the opportunities and meet the challenges brought by AI development.

For his part, Rosenkranz said that over the 55 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between Austria and China, the bilateral relationship has developed in depth, high-level exchanges have been close, and mutually beneficial cooperation has kept growing. He reaffirmed that Austria firmly adheres to the one-China policy. Noting that the delegation visiting China is composed of members from the five major parties of the Austrian National Council, he said deepening cooperation with China is the consensus across Austria’s party spectrum. The Austrian National Council stands ready to strengthen friendly exchanges with the NPC of China and promote Austria-China cooperation in such fields as the economy and trade, science and technology, enterprises, people-to-people and cultural engagement, and tourism. In international affairs, China is a stable cooperation partner, Rosenkranz said, adding that Austria is willing to make positive efforts to advance the development of EU-China relations and strengthen cooperation with China in multilateral platforms such as the United Nations.

He Wei took part in the meeting.