hu jintao

China's Hu Jintao eyes Australian mines - Summary



Sydney - Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Perth on Monday to seal resources supply deals that would cement China's position as Australia's top trade partner. Last month China overtook Japan to become Australia's leading export-import partner - a position Japan had held for 36 years.

"This growth in trade is phenomenal," Western Australia premier Allan Carpenter said on the eve of Hu's visit to Perth, the state capital. "This represents a 330-per-cent increase in two-way trade since 2002 and a 340-per-cent increase in exports during the same period."

Western Australia is the epicentre of a resources boom that is largely driven by China's demand for iron ore, liquefied natural gas (LNG), coal and other feedstock for its burgeoning manufacturing industry.

Australia's annual trade with China is now worth 50.5 billion Australian dollars (41 billion US dollars).

Hu is in Perth on his way to Sydney and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting at the weekend.

Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam make up APEC, which represents half of world trade, a third of its population and 60 per cent of the output of goods and services.

On his first full day in Perth, Hu will witness the signing of LNG deals worth billions of dollars.

"The trading, cultural and political relationship with China will grow more and more important in coming years," CommSec chief equities economist Craig James said. "Australian companies that fail to embrace the importance of China to the Australian economy will quickly fall behind."