China and Australia should take a strategic view of their trade and economic cooperation and act in the principle of mutual benefit for win-win results, top legislator Wu Bangguo said in Sydney Monday.  

China and Australia enjoy a strong economic complementarity and a huge potential for cooperation, Wu, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, told a forum on closer trade and economic links between the two countries.

"What make us more gratified is that, the two sides need each other more as their common interest expands and their enthusiasm for closer and high-quality cooperation increases," said Wu, who is currently on an official goodwill visit to Australia, the second leg of his four-nation Asia-Pacific tour.

"The prospects for unprecedented expansion of bilateral economic cooperation are unfolding right before our eyes. Let us view and develop this cooperation from a strategic height, adhere to the principles of mutual benefit for win-win results, give scope to our respective advantages, expand the areas and modalities of cooperation, so as to bring China-Australia trade and economic cooperation to a new high," he said.

Wu made a three-point proposal for further boosting bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

First, bilateral cooperation in the energy and mineral resource sectors, a key area of China-Australia economic cooperation, should be deepened and both sides should strive for mutually beneficial and win-win results, he said.

"Strengthened China-Australia cooperation in energy and mineral resources serves the shared interest of the two countries. We should go for a strategic cooperation in this respect and build a long-term and stable partnership for win-win results," he said.

Secondly, mutual investment should be stepped up and enterprise cooperation enhanced, Wu said. "We should ... further expand our direct investment ... (and) develop new areas and modalities of investment."

Closer enterprise cooperation should become a priority in efforts to deepen China-Australia economic partnership, he said, adding that China will encourage its enterprises to invest in Australia and it also welcomes active participation by Australian enterprises in China's efforts to develop its western region and reinvigorate its old industrial bases in the northeast.

Thirdly, the environment for cooperation needs to be improved and greater scope should be given to existing mechanisms.

"We should bring into fuller play such existing bilateral mechanisms as the Ministerial Economic Joint Committee and the Trade and Investment Committee, address each other's concerns properly, improve consultation and prior communication before taking major measures that bear on the interests of the other side, and efficiently safeguard the common interests of the two sides and legitimate rights and interests of the parties concerned."

The rapid expansion of bilateral trade and economic relations has brought tangible benefits to the two countries and two peoples and injected fresh vitality into the overall relationship, he said.

"Let us ... work together for a new chapter in China-Australia economic partnership," Wu said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2005)