Abbott goes to China 'to be a friend', not to chase deals

Australian "Defence ", that is seen by the Chinese as actually being  an Offence, is something Abbot does not talk about.  The 'collaboration'  and working along  with the  US and Japan  in containing China  is very obvious to the Chinese. They are probably too polite to mention it to him. 

Tony Abbott goes to China 'to be a friend', not to chase deals

Prime minister stresses co-operative disposition of 'Team Australia' and its commitment to building the Asian century

Katharine Murphy, deputy political editor and Jonathan Kaiman in Beijing

The prime minister, Tony Abbott, says he wants to accelerate free trade talks with China, but he is in the country to “be a friend”, not to do a deal.

In remarks that are a clear attempt to move past recent frictions in the relationship, and to segue from his warm reception in Japan and South Korea to a round of intense diplomacy in the People’s Republic, he told a major business forum in Boao: “Australia is not in China to do a deal, but to be a friend.

“We don’t just visit because we need to, but because we want to.”

Abbott again emphasised the regional effort to find the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 as an example of practical co-operation overcoming the reflexive “strategic pessimism that sometimes clouds discussions of our region’s future”.

He emphasised Australia’s co-operative disposition. “Australia’s preference is always to look forwards rather than backwards; to win friends rather than to find fault; to be helpful, not difficult.”

With defence collaboration with Japan a point of sensitivity in Beijing, Abbott noted: “We have first-class military forces that regularly operate with the world’s best. Australia is strong enough to be a valuable partner, but not a dominant one.”

Foreign investment is a key point of sensitivity in negotiations about a free trade deal with China. Both sides have signalled they want the trade pact concluded by year’s end.

China is conscious Australia has offered preferential foreign investment regimes to the US, Japan and South Korea through bilateral trade pacts.

It seems logical that Australian negotiators will offer the Chinese a similar screening threshold for foreign direct investment, an increase from $248m to $1.08bn for a private entity.

China wants more scope to invest in Australia, but the situation is complicated politically for Abbott because much of the investment will come through state-owned enterprises, not from the private sector. Because of National party sensitivities, Abbott will also want to preserve curbs on investments in farmland and agribusinesses.

Australia’s foreign investment rules require that all investments from state-owned enterprises be screened.

The trade minister, Andrew Robb, at a separate event in Shanghai, signalled Australia was looking for a way of accommodating investment from SOEs.

“Because of the predominance of state-owned enterprises in somewhere like China, and because of the effective and hugely meaningful relationship we’ve got here ... we are starting to very seriously consider, as we progress on the FTA negotiations, how we can meet the desire of many Chinese companies to invest in Australia,” Robb told a business breakfast.

China will be looking for more flexibility on investment, and for Australia to drop its remaining tariff protection for clothing and footwear.

But in return, Australia will want more access to the Chinese market, both for investment, services exports and agriculture.

Abbott opened his public sortie in China by noting the recent conclusion of the Japanese and South Korean FTAs, and saying he was hopeful of accelerating the trade talks with China.

The prime minister said “team Australia” was fully committed to building the Asian century, and he moved to temper previous statements in which he had highlighted the liberal democratic values of Japan and South Korea as a specific point of contrast with the different system of government in China.

The pitch on Thursday was about friendship.

Chinese state media praised the trip, prominently displaying pictures of Abbott and Chinese premier Li Keqiang standing shoulder to shoulder behind Australian and Chinese flags. Other images circulating online show Abbott slightly hunched, his hands steepled, speaking to a calmly receptive Li.

Many Chinese articles focused primarily on the joint search effort for the lost plane, while skimming over or omitting entirely the controversies surrounding China’s maritime ambitions.

“The soon-to-be-signed China-Australia free trade agreement marks an important bilateral consensus” Li said, according to the website of the People’s Daily, a Communist party mouthpiece. “I hope that both sides take a cooperative, pragmatic spirit towards advancing relevant discussions.”

Abbott has called the mission “one of the most important delegations ever to leave Australia.”

He emphasised not the communism of old, but China’s economic transformation and its embrace of wealth and markets that began with Deng Xiaoping’s reforms that renounced Maoism and embraced the concept of a socialist market economy.

China was opened to foreign investment during Deng’s leadership.

“China, after all, has taken to heart Deng Xiaoping’s advice that ‘to get rich is glorious’. And China should be richer still, thanks to premier Li’s reforms,” Abbott said.

“To be rich is indeed glorious, but to be a true friend is sublime,” he said.

But Abbott continued to emphasise that regional harmony should be predicated on “international law and mutual respect”.

He also noted the great, postwar economic transformation across north Asia had “happened because governments have allowed individuals and families to take more control of their own futures”.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/10/tony-abbott-goes-to-china-to-be-friend-not-chase-deals