China and Australia inked a series of bilateral agreements and moved to expand free trade between the two major Asia-Pacific economies in a vote of confidence for regional cooperation in the face of rising protectionism.
Visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull in Canberra witnessed the signing of a number of cooperation documents in such fields as the economy and trade, innovation, agriculture, food, intellectual property, security of law enforcement, tourism and education.
The two countries also started negotiations to further expand the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) to other fields, especially services and investment, Li told the Australia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum in Sydney.
China-Australia bilateral trade reached $104 billion in 2016, expanding at least 1,500-fold since the two forged diplomatic relations in 1972.

Source: IPR in China