Hainan Island, People's Republic of China
PM: I'm pleased to be here with Senator Carr and with Dr Emerson. We have just concluded a meeting with China's new President, with President Xi.
It was a very positive discussion, a substantive discussion, and it has left me with a real sense of confidence, not just about the state of the relationship now, but about how optimistic we can be for the future of the relationship.
It was a discussion which underlined really the value and importance of meeting the President so early in his term and being able to talk to him about the relationship between our two countries.
I made it clear to the President that I am committed and Australia is committed to building a stronger and more comprehensive relationship with China.
He said that he did want to see our relationship taken to a new level.
Now, we want to see our relationship strengthen, to be taken to a new level, not just because of the importance of China to Australia bilaterally, but because of the role that China has to play in the stability and prosperity of our neighbourhood, and in addressing the critical global challenges we face today including climate change.
I spoke to the President about the need for stronger and more structured high level dialogue mechanisms in our relationship to provide strategic direction to our bilateral ties which are obviously growing in scale and complexity, and I will continue that discussion with Premier Li when I reach Beijing, and I look forward to that discussion.
We talked about the economic relationship of course, and I assured the President that Australia would remain a reliable partner in supplying the mineral resources and energy that China needs and which is helping its economy grow.
And I also said that Australian welcomed investment from China.
I said that a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement would support the further diversification and growth of our economic relationship.
I took the opportunity to brief the President about our White Paper on Australian in the Asian Century and its policy framework for expanding and diversifying the links between our countries and the countries of the region, of Asia, not just economic links but also education links, science, cultural and arts links.
We discussed our cooperation on the global stage, particularly in the G20, the UN Security Council where of course we work with China.
We spoke about regional security and we spoke about the current concerns arising from the conduct of North Korea.
The President indicated that he shared those concerns about current tensions on the Korean peninsula; that the priority here is to prevent further escalation, and China is urging calm and restraint.
We talked very broadly about our cooperation in the region. I did also take the opportunity to note that the President is very familiar with Australia; he has visited every Australian state, other than Tasmania. I hope we have the opportunity to rectify that in the future.
I did invite the President to come back to Australia and we would make sure if he is able to visit, that there was a very broad program.
Happy to take any questions.JOURNALIST: Prime Minister can you tell us about any discussion on military or security cooperation and could you explain to us the importance of it?
PM: We didn't in this discussion talk in, what was a broad ranging discussion over around 45 minutes, but we didn't in this discussion focus on military-to-military links.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you have talked about how positive and how confident you are after this meeting. What benchmarks should we be looking for - specific benchmarks in the future - to know that the relationship is still on track and it is growing in the way you hoped?
PM: Well I think you can take it from the nature of the discussions today that there is a great deal of confidence about the state of the relationship now, and optimism for the future.
When words are being used about taking the relationship to a new level, I think that that is indicating a spirit of optimism about how we can grow this relationship.
And I'm not surprised when you think about our role in this region, China's role in this region, the complementary nature of our two economies, the ever increasing ties we've got more broadly than economic ties, I think that there is every reason to be very optimistic about the way in which we can build for the future and certainly that was the sense of the meeting.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister can you just explain a little bit more about the sort of standing architecture that you were talking about, that you say you were going to talk also with the Premier when you have that meeting. Is that on track? Is that likely to be something that comes from your visit now? That there will be this annual talks or annual process that formalises the relationship?
And just on North Korea quickly, was there any sense that you got at all, that China's position or relationship with North Korea is changed by the events that are occurring at the moment?
PM: To take the second part of the question first, I have had the opportunity, indeed we have all had the opportunity whilst we've been here, to talk to a number of people about North Korea.
And I'm very clear on China's position about North Korea which is that they don't want to see conflict on the Korean peninsula; that they well and truly understand and feel very deeply that that would be an outcome that assisted no one.
And in the discussion with the President today, as I indicated, he said that China is urging calm and restraint and he made reference to the Six Party Talks as a way of trying to work through issues on the Korean peninsula and that his aspiration would be to see a denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
On the first part of your question, we are continuing discussions about high level political oversight and management of the strategic direction of our relationship.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said that you were going to raise Tibet, did that come up?
PM: I did raise human rights, with a reference to Tibet.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can you tell us what you said about that though, just in what context, on what he said?
PM: Well these discussions are best had in private but as I indicated we do raise human rights concerns and I did raise human rights today.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you hope to conclude an agreement on the strategic dialogue during this visit, or perhaps in the days after when your ministers [inaudible]?
PM: As the Minister for Foreign Affairs indicated on television this morning, we have been working on these issues and discussing these issues for some time. It's early in the life of the new leadership of China. We are pursuing the discussions including here in China.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, did you discuss the progress of the Free Trade Agreement talks with China, and what if any undertakings did the President give about bringing that to some kind of conclusion after eight years?
PM: Both of us indicated that we would like to see a conclusion to the Free Trade Agreement, and we are about to see Dr Emerson working through another round of talks on the Free Trade Agreement.
We are aspiring here for a comprehensive, high quality agreement. We have complementary economies, but we both have complex economies with many industries and many interests, so it's not surprising that there are sensitivities on both sides that need to continue to be worked through.
But certainly at this level in this very comprehensive discussion we did refer to the desire by both Australia and China to conclude the free trade agreement.
JOURNALIST: Did President Xi bring anything to the table on climate change and carbon abatement schemes? Did he give any indications to you of further engagement he's got, any further policies he's got in that area?
PM: We didn't have a discussion of climate change in that level of detail, no.
As you would know from Minister Combet and from remarks that I've made publicly we obviously have been involved in not only watching what is happening here in China as they move in a number of provinces, and indeed in Beijing itself, to emissions trading schemes. But there have also been exchanges at a policy level about the way in which carbon pricing can work.
JOURNALIST: One of the problems that's been cited by the business community has been the artificially low level of the Chinese currency. Did that come up at all today and did the President give any indications about floating or freeing it up at all?
PM: No we did not talk about currency arrangements today.
JOURNALIST: Did the President bring anything to the table and ask Australia and you of anything in particular in a broader sense at all?
PM: Well we worked through the issues that I've indicated to you so we've talked about the nature of the relationship and our aspirations for the future, whereas I indicated the President used the terminology ‘taking the relationship to a new level'.
We talked about the nature of the economic links between our two countries, the complementary nature of our economies, how we can continue to grow and diversify trade and investment, and that's where the free trade agreement most certainly fits in.
We talked about the other links between our two nations and the desire to keep growing those links, the people-to-people links.
And we've talked about the work we do regionally and globally, including with a direct discussion on circumstances on the Korean peninsula.
JOURNALIST: Further to that in recent days a number of people have asserted there are either problems or issues or concerns with Australia's relationship with China.
Did the President raise any concerns about any aspect of the relationship at all?
PM: No. No, and the tenor of the meeting was one of confidence in the relationship now, references to the strength of the relationship now and references to the desire to keep building on today's relationship ever stronger for the future.
The President at one point reflected on the past 40 years and talked about developing a vision for the next 40 years.
JOURNALIST: Is there a time limit on when the free trade agreement might be finalised? Are we talking still years away?
PM: Look it doesn't work on the basis of setting artificial deadlines.
Negotiating trade agreements is complicated. It's particularly complicated when you're talking about economies with many interests.
Obviously New Zealand was in a position to conclude a free trade agreement with China. The New Zealand economy is differently structured to our own.
With the diversity of our economy, with the diversity of the Chinese economy it's not surprising that there are sensitivities that need to be worked through.
JOURNALIST: How much importance do you put in the currency deal with China for direct conversion from Aussie dollars to Renminbi?
PM: That wasn't the subject of - in terms of our economic trades and exchanges we certainly talked about that today.
In terms of you know mechanical arrangements, that wasn't the subject of a discussion today.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister did you raise with the President the fate of Australians or situation of Australian citizens in detention or in jail here in China? If so, what did you ask of him, what did you say, and what sort of response did you get?PM: As I indicated at the commencement of the trip given different spheres of responsibility it's appropriate to raise those matters with Premier Li, so they were not raised today.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister we're still getting to know President Xi, the world is; he's such a powerful figure.
Can you, beyond policy, can you give us some sense of your sense of him as a human being, his demeanor? What was your sense of the man today?
PM: I've had the opportunity to meet President Xi before in his earlier capacity. I'm not here to try and psychoanalyse someone, but in my dealings with him both in his earlier capacity and today as President he is a figure of intellectual and policy substance as you would expect.
He's a person I think with a keen eye for the future and a vision for the future. He brings to the table a deep understanding of Australia having had the opportunity to visit so broadly in Australia and that is all to the good for the future of our relationship.
JOURNALIST: What did you make of his speech to the plenary today and the way that he's positioning China in the region with regard to his comments today?
PM: Well I think some of the themes that came into our meeting reflected and were on the same topics as he dealt with in the speech, particularly the fact that we have shared responsibilities.
That is, all of us in the region have shared responsibilities, indeed heavy responsibilities for peace and stability in the region, and that requires having the right mechanisms and the right mindset to work through difficulties when they occur from time to time.
JOURNALIST: Did the President raise the past issue of Huawei and the Australian decision to refuse the investment in Australia on national security grounds, or in a general sense did he raise the Defence White Paper and the past on the issues Australia has had with the Chinese in terms of security?
PM: The answer is none of the above.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister how long did the meeting go for and how would you describe the cordiality of it?
PM: It was almost 45 minutes in length and it was a positive exchange. We are dealing with weighty topics so you expect people to be at the table focused and serious and that's exactly what we were doing.
There was the occasional joking reference certainly a spirit of humour about how good it would be to get the President to Tasmania. And he reflected that in an earlier role there was a sister province relationship with Tasmania so he joked that that should be the state of Australia where he spends most of his time.
I'm not sure that that's necessarily going to be possible but there were some lighthearted references to that.
But you're dealing with weighty topics, they require a business-like demeanor and that's what we had.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister the language you described about what he said about North Korea sounds to be almost identical to what's been said many many times before. Are you disappointed that there doesn't appear to have been any movement in China's position contrary to what some backbenchers have been saying?
PM: Well the sense I got out of the meeting and the sense we've had out of the discussions here is that China does not want to see conflict on the Korean peninsula.
China very much understands the current state of tensions. They also understand the risk of miscalculation here and that they do want to see tensions eased and calm and restraint shown, and that it is in no one's interests to see tensions escalated on the Korean peninsula.
Thank you very much.