Australia to push China for free-trade talks
Reuters
Canberra, August 11
Australia will push China, its third-largest trade partner, to consider setting up a free-trade agreement (FTA) when the prime minister visits Beijing next week, a senior government official said on Monday.
Prime Minister John Howard will spend next Monday in Beijing to meet China's new leadership, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, and to try to expand the economic relationship between the two countries.
Two-way trade between Australia and China has almost trebled since Howard's conservative government won power in 1996, with two-way trade totalling A$21.2 billion ($13.8 billion) in 2002.
China is now the fourth-largest destination for Australian exports, taking about seven per cent of last year's total, especially in the form of iron ore, wool and crude petroleum, and the third-largest source of imports, such as computers, toys and textiles.
A senior government official said trade was one of the items on the agenda for next week's talks, alongside China's role in helping defuse a stand-off over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
"One of the things we will be discussing is the possibility of
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