Gillard to China seeking to anchor Australia to Asia
AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister Julia Gillard will lead a
heavyweight team to China on Friday touting not just better ties and
trade but also the lofty ambition of putting Asia at the heart of
Australia’s future.
“I’ll be leading the most senior Australian political delegation ever
to visit China,” Gillard told foreign correspondents on the eve of
departure.
“I will be among the first Western leaders to meet the new
leadership,” she noted.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr, Trade Minister Craig Emerson, who is also
responsible for Australia’s Asian Century policy, and Financial Services
Minister Bill Shorten are among senior politicians on the April 5-10
trip.
“I’ll be promoting our trade and economic interests and sharing
perspectives on global and regional economic and security challenges,”
she said.
The prime minister will meet President Xi Jinping at the Boao Forum
for Asia in Hainan and will have talks in Beijing with Prime Minister Li
Keqiang.
Gillard said she wanted not only “to celebrate our existing strong
relationship and its underpinnings... but to look ahead to how we can
build the comprehensive relationship envisioned in our Asian Century
White Paper, including how leaders can help deliver a relationship of
greater depth and durability in a more complex future”.
“The timing of this visit so soon after the new leadership has
entered into office is deliberate and reflects the importance of our
rapidly evolving relationship with China,” she added.
“And more broadly, it reflects the centrality of Asia in the story of
our nation for the 21st century.” The Canberra government last October
unveiled an “Australia in the Asian Century” plan setting education and
business targets to hoist the nation into the world’s top 10 economies.
Gillard underlined that her second visit to China followed trips to
India, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore as
her government seeks to bolster Australia’s standing in the region.
“Thanks to the relationships and capabilities we’ve built over four
decades, Australia is pushing on an open door as we enter the Asian
Century,” she said.
“Asia has the wealth and the demand. Whether we meet that demand is
entirely up to us,” she warned, noting Europe and the Americas were
eyeing the same opportunities.
China is Australia’s largest trading partner with two-way goods and
services worth Aus$128 billion (US$134 billion).
AFP
|