Australia and the US want to engage positively with China, and Japan's strained relations with the emerging power are a cause for concern, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday.
Downer was speaking ahead of the first ministerial level trilateral security dialogue with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso in Sydney this week.
"The Sino-Japanese relationship is a point of some concern for many of us in the region, and I guess that will be one of the issues that we'll talk about during Condoleezza Rice's visit," he said on national television.
Downer's comments came after Rice told Australian journalists in Washington last week that the US, Australia and Japan needed to form a common position to ensure that China's rise was not a negative force in international politics.
But Downer said the allies did not plan a policy of containment of China.
"The Americans share our view that, with the rise of China, we don't want to pursue a policy of containment," Downer said. "We want to pursue a policy of successful engagement. There's nothing wrong with the growing economic power of China."
"It's a good thing for Australia ... and I think it's a good thing for the world in many respects," he said.
But as China became increasingly important in international affairs, Beijing needed to use its power responsibly, he said.
"As China's economic weight grows, so its political weight in the region and beyond is going to grow. That has to be recognized, accommodated, and China has to use that growing weight with a high degree of responsibility. My view is that China has been using that growing political weight responsibly," he said.
Downer said Australia wanted to see "the growth of China, we want to see greater prosperity in the region, but we want to make sure that power is appropriately balanced in the region."
Rice said that Beijing's military and economic rise would be the focus of the trilateral discussions on Saturday as it was the major force behind changes in the region.
"And I think all of us in the region, particularly those of us who are long-standing allies, have a joint responsibility and obligation to try and produce conditions in which the rise of China will be a positive force in international politics, not a negative force," she said.
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