UPDATE 1-Australia invites China's Wang Yi to visit next month - SCMP report

Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong had issued a formal invitation to Wang, who is expected to spend a day in Canberra and another day in Sydney, SCMP said. The visit would be Wang's first since 2017, and a few months following Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's visit to China in November that helped ease tensions in bilateral relations.

Australia has invited Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to visit in the later part of March for discussions spanning trade, security and more, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday citing sources.

Talks were expected to revolve around bilateral trade, Australia's AUKUS security alliance with the United States and Britain, a new science and technology agreement and Australian writer Yang Hengjun's sentencing, the report said. Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong had issued a formal invitation to Wang, who is expected to spend a day in Canberra and another day in Sydney, SCMP said.

The visit would be Wang's first since 2017, and a few months following Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's visit to China in November that helped ease tensions in bilateral relations. A spokesperson for Australia's foreign ministry said: "Any visits by senior officials of foreign governments will be announced at the appropriate time."

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the SCMP report.

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