【REUTERS】 Australia tries to halt slide in China ties

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Australia tries to halt slide in China ties

Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:24am

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By James Grubel

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia tried to halt a slide in ties with China on Thursday by denying support for autonomy for the restive Chinese region of Xinjiang as Beijing media accused the country of leading an "anti-China chorus".

Relations have soured over the grant of an Australian visa to Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled leader of China's Muslim Uighur minority in farwestern Xinjiang, and the arrest of an Australian Rio Tinto mining executive and three other Rio staff on allegations of espionage.

China is Australia's biggest export market, with two-way trade worth $53 billion last year. Major Australian exports in 2008 included iron ore, wool, copper ore and manganese.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told parliament that allowing Kadeer to visit Australia did not mean support for her views on Uighur autonomy.

"We have a long-standing position to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the western provinces so far as China is concerned," Smith said.

Rio, which has said the four detained staff have done nothing wrong, also moved to soothe tensions, saying the company was committed to building a stronger relationship with China.

"We will respect the Chinese legal process," chairman Jan du Plessis told a teleconference.

Rio chief executive Tom Albanese said the four Rio staff remained in good health.

"Our first priority is our duty of care to them and their families and we do not want to say any thing or do anything that can negatively affect them," he said.

China, which considers political stability a top priority, blames Kadeer for instigating ethnic riots in Xinjiang earlier this year when Uighurs attacked Han Chinese, a charge she has repeatedly denied.

It criticized Australia's decision to give Kadeer a visa and canceled a high-level diplomatic visit in protest.

On Wednesday, the China Daily, the Communist Party's official English-language paper, said Australia's "Sino-phobic politicians" were leading the world's "anti-China chorus" and siding with Kadeer.

"By providing Kadeer a platform for anti-Chinese separatist activities, Canberra chose to side with a terrorist and severely hurt China's national interests."

Australia's ambassador to China returned home for consultations on Wednesday, but Canberra denied it signaled a protest.

"He hasn't been rushed back to Canberra. He comes back on a regular basis," Smith told national radio.

"FULL OF CHALLENGES"

Canberra, in stressing the strength of its ties with China, has pointed to this week's $41.5 billion deal to sell liquefied natural gas to PetroChina.

"The China-Australia relationship is always full of challenges, and it always has been thus and it will be thus for a long time to come," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said during a media conference with visiting New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.

Smith said Canberra was working through its differences with Beijing methodically, including the arrest of Australian Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu.

The Global Times, a popular Chinese tabloid that often casts a nationalist perspective on international affairs, said the multibillion LNG deal with Australia this week showed economic cooperation had taken "a big step forward".

The paper quoted Zhou Shijian, a former Chinese trade official and now a researcher at Tsinghua University in Beijing, saying the Xinjiang issue should not hurt economic ties.

"China must clearly grasp that a big trade order cannot ensure that in the future Australia won't again invite people such as Rebiya, and it won't stop the cussing of China in Australian politics," Zhou said.

(Additional reporting by Rob Taylor in Canberra and Chris Buckley in Beijing; Editing by Nick Macfie)

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE57J16A20090820