PRIME MINISTER:
Welcome to this news conference. I'll make a few introductory remarks, a very few and then I'll answer any questions.
As you know an agreement was reached last night between Australia and China to commence negotiations for a free trade agreement. Australia and China already have a very extensive trade and economic relationship, but if we can build further on that by the conclusion of a free trade agreement, then that would be to the benefit of both countries over the longer term. It will be a very complex negotiation but it would be approached by Australia in a positive frame of mind and with great energy and commitment. I believe the same will come from the Chinese side and I have been encouraged in that respect from the discussions I've had with the President, the Premier and Chairman of the National Peoples Congress.
The only matter I want to add is to expand slightly on a point I made last night and that is that during my discussions with both the Premier and the President, positive remarks were made in relation to Australia's willingness to be part of the East Asian Summit. They went beyond remarks that had been made by China on earlier occasions. Any questions?
JOURNALIST:
Australian TCF and auto tariffs will be on the table in these negotiations along with everything else. I wonder how hard Australia will be trying to maintain its current plans on tariff reductions and how likely it is you think they could be -we could have to change those plans as a result of the talks?
PRIME MINISTER:
Lenore, I'm not going to get in to the micro-analysis of individual sectors. All of those things will be caught up in negotiations. At the end of the day we're not going to agree to something which on balance disadvantages Australia. But I'm simply not going to start addressing individual sectors. The negotiations will take quite a while and its pointless my starting to speculate about what's going to happen in particular areas.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister given the positive remarks of which you've spoken, do you now regard China as a supporter of Australian involvement in the East Asian Summit process?
PRIME MINISTER:
I just stand by what I said. Is there a person from the Chinese media who wishes to ask me a question?
JOURNALIST:
We know that you're going to attend the upcoming Boao forum next week. So what's your main goal with your first appearance at the forum? And there is said to be a special meeting on the amity partnership between Australia and China? So what will be discussed, any details on this special meeting? Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER:
I will be taking the opportunity to outline the extent of Australia's economic and strategic commitment in the region. I will also focus in particular, on the growth, on the extent of the economic relationship between Australia and China.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister given the apparent softening in China's position on our attendance at the East Asia Summit, will that have any influence on your Government's decision whether or not to sign the treaty of amity and co-operation? Is it now more likely Australia will agree to sign that?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't have anything to add to what I previously said on that issue.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, the joint feasibility study says that there could be job losses in the clothing and automotive industry. What do you say to Australian workers who might have to bear the brunt of an FTA being reached?
PRIME MINISTER:
It's too early to be talking about what one might say in a particular situation to a particular group of people who have yet to affected, and may not be affected by Government decisions which are yet to be made at some indeterminate time in the future.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister the feasibility study findings are based on an FTA starting next year, is that now the target date? And is that a feasible option?
PRIME MINISTER:
I stand to be advised on the answer I'm about to give but I assume that, for the purposes of the feasibility study, you've got to start at some starting point and I can't imagine it would change enormously from one year to the next. Is next year a target? No. I think it's a bit optimistic to think that you could have the negotiations completed in the remaining seven and a half months of this year, with a commencement date on the 1st of January 2006. We're good and there is a lot of goodwill around but not that good.
JOURNALIST:
Today already Australian Opposition has criticised you for giving China market economy status, saying it's put you in a bad negotiating position, can you...
PRIME MINISTER:
Who said that?
JOURNALIST:
I don't have the name I'm sorry.
PRIME MINISTER:
One of my political opponents back home? I've two answers to that but first is, no it hasn't and the second is an observation that when you don't have any policies, I suppose all you can do is criticise the other bloke.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard in the run up to the agreement to start negotiating, the Government was very reassuring to business about anti-dumping protections and so on. So I wonder in light of your answer earlier, why are you reluctant to talk now about the possible implications or protections for people in the car and TCF industries?
PRIME MINISTER:
They are somewhat different things Michelle. The question that Lenore asked me was about a response to the impact of the negotiations on specific existing arrangements for a particular industry. The anti-dumping thing is of a generic kind and the point that you made and I repeat it, is that the granting of market economy status does not prevent through the use of other mechanisms effective anti-dumping measures in Australia.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister you and Mr Vaile have repeatedly stressed the need for, as a baseline for this... for these negotiations to be on a comprehensive basis. Does that mean that if agriculture for example dropped off the table during the negotiations there would be no agreement?
PRIME MINISTER:
Jim that's hypothetical, it's not our intention to allow agriculture to drop off the table.
JOURNALIST:
Thank you. This is your 5th time to come to China, so what do you think about the development of China in these areas and what's your expectation about the Sino- Australia relations in the future, thank you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I have a very positive view about the future. The relationship between Australia and China is a remarkable example of how two nations with totally different cultural backgrounds and totally different backgrounds and totally different political structures, both historically and in the present can focus on the things that we have in common and the things that we can develop to our mutual benefit and that is something of an example to other countries. I don't have any illusions about the fact that China and Australia disagree on quite a number of things and I've always maintained a candour in relation to those in my discussions with successive Chinese leaders. But I am overwhelmingly positive and optimistic about the future of the relationship.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister did the Chinese leadership raise with you the question of iron ore prices and did they ask you to support the anti-succession law on Taiwan?
PRIME MINISTER:
The answer to the first question is no, although there was at one point in the exchange between the Premier and myself a reference to the role of governments generally - I chose a bad point in the answer to have a translation- the role of governments generally in relation to commercial negotiations. And I stressed the fact that commercial decisions were made by companies, not by governments. But there was no specific reference to iron ore prices or anything that could be construed as an inference. And the second part again?
JOURNALIST:
Taiwan and...
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, anti-secession laws. In all of the discussions reference was made by my Chinese interlocutors to the anti-secession law and estimations of it. I don't believe that I was asked to express support for it and I did not. I in fact did not express a view on the anti-secession law. I wasn't asked to and I saw no point in doing so.
JOURNALIST:
Does this negotiation mean that Australia is prepared to consider changing for example the FIRB rules to give Chinese companies preferential treatment in investment in Australian resources projects? And could you explain what you see as the likely future for Chinese investment in Australian resources projects?
PRIME MINISTER:
The negotiations are to involve all sectors. So the conceptional answer to your first question is yes but the real answer would depend on a whole lot of things and there's no point in my speculating about what might come out of it. As far as investment is concerned we are very desirous of having as much Chinese investment, both equity and direct investment as possible and that is a point that I made to the Chinese leadership during my discussions.
JOURNALIST:
As someone who grew up in the shadow of World War II yourself, does Japan's treatment of its war time record raise any questions in your mind and is this something that came up in your talks with the Chinese leaders or something you might raise with Mr Koizumi?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it's necessary for all countries to be frank about past events. I can understand the feeling of Australians who suffered at the hands of enemies when they were captivity during World War II and that's a view that's put to me from time to time by men and women in Australia of that generation. I have also been deeply impressed, particularly in the time I've been Prime Minister by the readiness of many of that generation, including some who were prisoners of war of the Japanese, to look to the future and to assert that the important thing is to build a productive relationship between Australia and Japan. I think one of the most impressive acts of leadership in the immediate post-war years in Australia was that of the Menzies Government in negotiating the free trade agreement, or commercial agreement, between Australia and Japan at a time when that Government was almost totally dominated, with a few exceptions, by men who had served in World War II, many of them had been in prisoner of war camps run by the Japanese.
Thank you.