File photo: Local residents attend the launching ceremony of the China-Aid Project on Juncao and Upland Rice Technology to PNG, in Goroka of the Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea, Aug. 20, 2019. (Xinhua/Chinese Embassy in PNG)

China and Papua New Guinea (PNG) have voiced firm support for deeper cooperation in more fields including energy, mining, agriculture, fishery, trade and other fields on Tuesday, after Australia raised concerns about a proposed Chinese fisheries park project in PNG.

The remarks were made during a meeting between Chinese Ambassador to PNG Xue Bing and Western Province Governor Taboi Awi Yoto of PNG at the Chinese Embassy on Tuesday, according to a statement Chinese Embassy in PNG sent to the Global Times on Wednesday.

Xue said China and PNG are Comprehensive Strategic Partners, and in recent years the bilateral relationship has continued to develop steadily, and is stronger than any time in history, with deepening mutual political trust and ever increasing exchanges and cooperation across multiple fields.

The remarks also come as Australia has over the past months raised concerns and reacted on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between China's Fujian Zhonghong Fishery Company and the PNG government in November last year.

A delegation of Australian Department of Foreign Affairs staff from the Australian High Commission in PNG travelled to Daru this month for a series of meetings and discussions about the proposal. They met with the local governor, Toboi Awi Yoto, who was a signatory to the MOU, according to Australian media reports.

Yoto criticized Australia's response to the plan in a post tilled "we will not sway" on his Facebook on Saturday, saying Australia wants the "status quo" of poverty in the region to remain.

The governor said Australia came with no alternative to the Chinese plan and that he "was not satisfied with their intentions for my people to remain the same" when many are living in poverty.

During the meeting with Xue, Yoto thanked Fujian Zhonghong Fishery Company for its recent plan to invest a fishery industrial park on Daru island in Western Province, he said the project would surely bring practical benefits to the local people, and more Chinese investors are welcome to invest and set up businesses in Western Province in the near future.

"China will continue to follow the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith and upholding justice while pursuing shared interests, and engage in more exchange and cooperation with the national and provincial governments of PNG in a wide range of areas, so as to bring tangible benefits to the PNG people, including the people of Western Province," said the ambassador.