Agriculture remains stumbling block to deal, Canberra says
SYDNEY: Trade talks between China and Australia will restart this month despite tension surrounding the trial of a Rio Tinto executive on allegations of bribery, the Australian Minister for Trade said yesterday.
Negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) stalled more than a year ago but fresh talks to be held in Canberra, the Australian capital, could further thaw relations between the two countries. However, agriculture is still a stumbling block, said trade minister Simon Crean in Sydney.
"The political will, in my judgement, is there," he told the Foreign Correspondents' Association. "The stumbling block still, in essence, remains the sensitivity surrounding agriculture. These are sensitivities that I believe we can address but we can't ignore.
"It is clearly impossible for Australia to accept an FTA that is less than China offered New Zealand when it comes to agriculture."
China's State-owned companies are eager to buy into Australian mining assets to secure supplies of raw materials in its rapidly growing economy, the world's third largest, and China wants more clarity on Australian foreign investment rules.
But China is concerned about the pressures from Australian agriculture imports and both have unresolved differences over the rules to protect intellectual property in China.
Both nations started work on a free-trade deal in April 2005 but there has been no further discussion since the 13th round of talks in Beijing in December 2008.
China is Australia's biggest trading partner, with two-way trade worth about A$76 billion ($68 billion), while China is also spending more than A$25 billion on Australian iron ore and coal. But relations soured in June 2009 when Chinalco, a State-owned aluminum producer, failed in a bid to buy a $19.5-billion stake in Rio Tinto, an Australia mining company.
Shortly after, Stern Hu, an Australian executive for Rio in China, was arrested and charged with bribery and stealing commercial secrets.
"We can't impose our legal system or our standards on China, just as we would not want China imposing theirs on us," said Crean, who again called for quick and transparent action by China.
The economic relationship between China and Australia was driven by the fact both are heavily dependent on each other, the minister said, adding he believed ties could deepen and diversify.
"China has continued to argue its desire to invest in this country and, in the main, all of those investment proposals have been approved," he said.
In January, Australia approved a $498-million bid by China's Zijin Mining Group for Indophil Resources NL.
