Australian FM to visit China, calls for broader relationship

Australian Foreign Minister Senator Bob Carr has called for broader military ties between Australia and China before his first official visit to China. The Australian Foreign Minister will visit China next week for three days at the invitation of Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi. Carr told Chinese news agency (Xinhua) that the bilateral relationship between Australia and China needed to be deepened beyond what he called "the transactional economic agenda" by creating confidence-building measures, including military cooperation." "I'm open to any approaches, any ideas from our Chinese partners in an expansion of points of contact between Australia and China and there is already a level of military-to-military cooperation between Australia and China and that's in the interest of both countries and I want to see that broadened," he said. Carr's first visit to China as foreign minister comes at a time of growing regional disquiet about Australia's strategic stance, with 2500 US marines taking up a controversial new deployment in Darwin, a deployment that the foreign minister was keen to play down. "The US troop presence is a rotating troop presence - not a base," he said. "Those troops are in, they do training, they do joint exercises and then they're out. It's not a base. The numbers are small ... so small as to render that presence insignificant." China is one of Australia's key trading partners. Enhancing that trade will be a key objective of Carr's visit, as he battles a growing perception in Chinese business circles that Australia is ambivalent toward foreign investment after highly publicized government interventions in investments and contracts involving companies such as the telecom giant Huawei. Carr said the perception is mistaken and Australia is open to Chinese investment and wants more. "Chinese investment in Australia has grown. It's grown in strategic sectors of the economy - for example in mining. There are huge Chinese investment now in the mining sector. "Australia's got a very open investment climate. And this is true of foreign direct investment originating in China. We want to see more Chinese investment in Australia," he said. Carr will also seek to reassure Chinese students after a vicious attack in Sydney last month left one Chinese national with a broken cheekbone and caused a furor on micro blogs around the region. "Australia is one of the safest places to live in and to study. I'm very proud that Australia offers a safe environment for overseas students, Chinese students to live in and work in," Carr said.