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By Jia Cheng Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard will make an official visit to China next week as part of an Asia tour designed to promote Australia's trade and investment potential. China's foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, said on Tuesday that Gillard will visit China from April 25-28, at the invitation of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. The trip will be Gillard's first bilateral visit to North Asia. Before heading to China, the delegation will visit South Korea and Japan, the Xinhua News Agency said. According to the statement published on the official website of the Australian embassy in Beijing, Gillard's visit to Beijing will underline Australia's growing relationship with China, with a focus on enhancing trade, and investment ties with Australia's top two-way trade partner. There will also be a focus on regional cooperation. Guo Chunmei, an expert on Australian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times that Gillard's visit to Beijing aims to find a balance between the country's relationship with China and the US, given the competitive relationship between the two nations. Both China and the US are important to Australia. China is now its biggest trading partner and the largest source of imports for Australia. Meanwhile, the long-standing alliance with the US is the main support for the development of Australia, she added. The bilateral trade volume between China and Australia exceeded $10 billion in 2002, but it surged to $88.9 billion in 2010, according to the Xinhua News Agency. During the visit, Gillard will meet with Wen and President Hu Jintao, and the trip will include roundtable meetings of CEOs of major Australian and Chinese corporations. She will also speak at the Australia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum. on Tuesday, Gillard urged China not to take "backward steps" on human rights, saying she would raise her concerns in an upcoming meeting with Hu, AFP reported. "As prime minister on my first trip to China, I want to add to that constructive arrangement," AFP quoted Gillard as saying. |
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