AUSTRALIA: China's President Hu Jintao tackles issues as APEC ministers prepare for weekend summit

Record ID: 559535

  • Title: AUSTRALIA: China's President Hu Jintao tackles issues as APEC ministers prepare for weekend summit
  • Date: 6th September 2007
  • Summary: (W1) SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (SEPTEMBER 6, 2007) (REUTERS) DARLING HARBOUR, APEC FLAGS VARIOUS OF WATER POLICE PATROLLING HARBOUR POLICE HELICOPTER HOVERING OVER HARBOUR EXTERIOR OF SYDNEY CONVENTION CENTRE SECURITY OUTSIDE THE CONVENTION CENTRE
  • Embargoed: 21st September 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Australia
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA4HA4WV1JMQX4QXG6DR62RS3TM
  • Story Text: China's President Hu Jintao gave qualified support on Thursday (September 6) to Australia's initiative on climate change, as he and Australian leader John Howard cemented their nations' ties.
    Speaking during a rare joint news conference, Howard said Australia and China enjoyed a strong relationship, which would be further enhanced by future strategic dialogue.
    "The first is the agreement between the two of us to commence a strategic dialogue between Australia and China, which will enable us through a formal mechanism to regularly traverse all details of this very important relationship," Howard said.
    Hu is scheduled to meet U.S. President George W. Bush later on Thursday, where they are expected to have robust discussions on everything from product safety and trade to climate change, jailed dissidents, Beijing's support for Myanmar's junta, the Dalai Lama and Iran.
    The two men are only scheduled to meet for 20 minutes.
    At the joint news conference, Hu said China was ready to boost international cooperation to ensure its export products met appropriate safety standards.
    "Recently some international media have questioned the quality of Chinese products and safety of Chinese food. The Chinese government takes these international opinions quite seriously and we have conducted very serious investigations into this matter. And if there is any wrongdoing proven on the part of the Chinese companies, we have already held those Chinese companies involved accountable according to law," Hu said.
    Chinese goods have been the subject of safety concerns in a number of countries, prompting recalls of products, including toys and toothpaste.
    Most recently, world-leading toy maker Mattel Inc. announced a third recall of Chinese-made toys due to "impermissible" levels of lead.
    At a meeting hosted by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Australian Trade Minister Warren Truss, Downer said that an APEC Food Safety Cooperation forum had been established, co-chaired by Australia and China.
    The initiative aims to harmonise APEC members' food safety regulations with international standards, among other things, and to explore ways to expand this work to include other products.
    "We agreed to establish on Food Safety Cooperation Forum co-chaired by China and Australia to strengthened food practices and standards," Downer said.
    "We also endorse the strong counter terrorism programme, including ways to counter terrorist financing and to protect our food supply, IT system, energy, infrastructure, and massive transit from terrorist attacks," he added.
    But as Hu attempted to put the minds of business leaders at rest, outside on the streets of Sydney religious group Falun Gong staged a protest against China's human rights record that attracted up to 2,000 people in Hyde Park.
    The protest is one of many expected over the coming days, prompting Australia to launch its biggest ever security operation in Sydney to welcome the 21 leaders attending this week's APEC meetings. Newspapers have dubbed the city of more than 4 million people "Fortress Sydney".
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register