On October 8, 2007, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Quan met in the office building of the Foreign Ministry with Maurice Newman, Chairman of the board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Hailing the sound exchanges and cooperation between the two countries' media in recent years, Kong said currently the development of bilateral relations has witnessed sound momentum and both peoples hope to deepen mutual understanding, which offers opportunities for media cooperation between the two countries. During his current visit, Mr. Newman communicated with relevant Chinese media on cooperation and achieved positive results. Such cooperation is conducive to further enhancing mutual understanding between the two peoples and to promoting development of bilateral relations, said Kong. He emphasized that China welcomes more objective, comprehensive reporting on China by foreign media including ABC and will continue to offer facilitation and assistance in this regard.

Briefing on his company, Newman said that ABC attaches importance to China, and hopes to send more journalists to and increase reporting on the country, in a bid to give the Australians an all-round and objective introduction to China's development. He added ABC also hopes to cooperate with relevant Chinese media on program production and introduction.