Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for enhanced security ties with Australia after reaching a free-trade agreement with Canberra and said that the country should not be concerned by China’s rise in the Asia-Pacific region.
Non-Chinese “may naturally wonder how the big guy will move and act and be concerned that the big guy may push them around, stand in their way, or even take up their place,” Xi said in a speech to the Australian parliament in Canberra. “Neither turbulence nor war serves the fundamental interests of the Chinese people.”
Xi is seeking to enhance economic ties with Australia while reassuring its trading partner it has nothing to fear from his nation’s increasing role in regional affairs. China is restructuring its military, boosting the capacity of its air force and bolstering its naval presence in the disputed South China Sea.
Photo: Reuters
“Our two countries should enhance cooperation in humanitarian disaster relief, counter terrorism and maritime safety to jointly meet various security challenges in our region,” Xi said in the speech.
The two nations agreed to upgrade their relationship to a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” he added.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the trade agreement, to be signed next year, marked a “historic day” and welcomed “the friendship between our two countries.”
Hundreds of protesters and dozens of supporters gathered outside as Xi, who was Down Under to attend the G20 summit in Brisbane at the weekend, became the second Chinese leader to address Australia’s parliament.
Pro-Beijing supporters wearing red and waving China flags were on the lawn in front of the captial’s Parliament House, separated by barricades from protesters chanting: “Xi Jinping not welcome” and “Down with China.”
Ethnic groups protesting against alleged human rights abuses against minority Uighurs and Tibetans in China joined the throng, waving a banner that read: “Australia’s Real and Biggest Threat: China’s Expansionism.”
Dressed as a Chinese soldier wielding a plastic baton and with his pockets stuffed with fake yuan notes meant to symbolize government corruption, Charlie Ni said he traveled from Sydney to protest Xi’s visit and China’s persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
“Xi can hear our voice, we are sending a message,” said Ni, 51, who has lived in Sydney for 15 years. “We all want to end the persecutions by China. We want a free China.”
On the other side of the barricades, Canberra-based university student Chang Liu held a Chinese flag and said he was proud Xi was in Australia.
“Our life is much better in China now,” the 29-year-old said. “The government is not perfect, but the protesters aren’t being constructive.”
Yesterday’s speech is the first made by a Chinese leader to the Australian legislature since former Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) did so in 2003. Beijing and Canberra have not always seen eye-to-eye — Australia’s previous Labor Party government cited national interest concerns for its refusal to let Huawei Technologies Co, China’s largest manufacturer of phone network equipment, work on Australia’s broadband infrastructure project.
During a July 2012 visit to China, Australia’s then-opposition leader Abbott said investment from the country was “complicated” by the prevalence of state-owned enterprises, while a year ago his government publicly rebuked China for its introduction of an air-defense identification zone over parts of the East China Sea.
Australia, which hosts as many as 2,500 Marines in its northern port of Darwin as part of the US’ “pivot” to the Asia- Pacific region, held human rights talks with China in Beijing in February. During the talks, it raised issues including “freedom of expression, freedom of religion, treatment of political prisoners and ethnic minorities, Tibet, torture” and the death penalty, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.
“Australia recognizes that China has made progress over the past 30 years and that the Chinese people enjoy a greater degree of personal freedom than before, but our views on human rights still differ,” the department said on its Web site.
Xi’s visit to Australia will include a trip to Tasmania State, where he is expected to consider funding initiatives for the island’s agricultural industry.
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