Saturday, June 19, 2010
SYDNEY (AFP) - – Chinese leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping was to begin a five-day tour of Australia Saturday as Beijing seeks assurances on the key mining industry rocked by a proposed 40 percent tax on profits.
Xi, widely tipped to succeed President Hu Jintao in 2013, was due to arrive late Saturday from New Zealand, where his entourage clashed with a lawmaker waving a Tibetan flag outside parliament.
It is the first high-level Chinese visit to Australia since March's jailing of Rio Tinto mining executive Stern Hu and the resumption of free trade talks between the two economic partners.
Xi is expected to take a particular interest in the centre-left Labor government's 40 percent tax on the so-called "super profits" of mining firms, which has prompted a furious backlash from the key export sector.
"Chinese companies are interested to see the development of the resource tax. They will express that," said Chinese ambassador Zhang Junsai.
"As long as they see a stable political situation and legal framework (and) they know they can make money here, they don't have to worry," he told The Australian newspaper.
Raw materials such as iron ore and coal are key to China's industrialisation, and it is one of the largest takers of Australia's resources exports, the target of Labor's controversial tax reform.
Xi will meet with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Canberra on Monday before both address an economic forum at Parliament House, and Zhang said the focus would be on strengthening the ties that have helped Australia stave off recession.
It was also a sign that the relationship had moved on from strains linked to the arrest of Australian passport holder Hu and his company's rejection of a huge Chinalco deal.
Hu, former head of Rio's Shanghai office, was jailed for 10 years for taking kickbacks from Chinese steel firms and stealing corporate secrets.
Tensions over his July 2009 arrest were inflamed with a visit to Australia by exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer which was strongly opposed by Beijing, who claim she is a terrorist.
"We shouldn't be afraid of problems coming up," said Zhang.
"We have different social systems, different views on international issues. We are different nations, that's understandable."
"We can agree to disagree," the diplomat added, "accommodating to each other's core interests."
Xi will attend an Australia-China chief executives' round-table and a trade forum during his visit, which takes in Melbourne, Canberra and the Outback Northern Territory region.
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