Li Changchun, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Monday called on China and Australia to increase exchanges between young politicians of the two countries.

Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks during his meeting with Malcolm Turnbull, leader of the Liberal Party, now the opposition party.

Li said that inter-party exchanges constituted an important part of state-to-state ties, noting that he made positive remarks for the role played by the Liberal Party when it was the ruling party.

"New ways and means of communication should be explored between us under the new situation," he said, adding it should included the exchanges among young politicians.

He said that the economies between China and Australia were compatible to each other and the two nations shared extensive common interests in major regional and international affairs.

Li called the political parties and politicians of the two countries to make concrete efforts for promoting bilateral cooperation in the long run.

He also briefed Turnbull on the stimulus measures adopted by the Chinese government to combat the global financial crisis.

Turnbull said his party attached high importance to Sino-Australian ties either as ruling or as opposition party. He highly spoke of the measures taken by China to mitigate the adverse effect of the financial crisis and pledged to make continuous efforts for the growth of bilateral ties.

Li arrived in Australia on Friday. Australia is the first-leg of Li's four-nation tour which will also take him to Myanmar, South Korea and Japan.

(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2009)