❓ The Premier discusses the significance of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to WA, highlighting the strong trade relationship, potential for expansion beyond commodities, and the lack of discussion on uranium mining.
AnsweredQoN 83Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CHINESE PREMIER WEN JIABAO - VISIT TO WA
Will the Premier please tell the house how significant the visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was to Western Australia? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
Will the Premier please tell the house how significant the visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was to Western Australia? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
AnswerView source ↗
It was a very good day on Sunday. It was a very interesting day. I noted that the Leader of the Opposition was unable to attend and that the deputy leader was unable to attend. The member for Bunbury was sent along as the representative of the opposition. An opposition member: What is wrong with that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Nothing; that is fine. It would have been nice if one of the front bench had been able to attend so that they could show the elevated importance they consider the relationship between Western Australia and China deserves. However, they did not manage to get there. Nevertheless, I do not think that Premier Wen was too upset by the absence! A government member: Did he raise that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: It was a very good day on Sunday. It was a very interesting day. I noted that the Leader of the Opposition was unable to attend and that the deputy leader was unable to attend. The member for Bunbury was sent along as the representative of the opposition. An opposition member: What is wrong with that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Nothing; that is fine. It would have been nice if one of the front bench had been able to attend so that they could show the elevated importance they consider the relationship between Western Australia and China deserves. However, they did not manage to get there. Nevertheless, I do not think that Premier Wen was too upset by the absence! A government member: Did he raise that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
It was a very good day on Sunday. It was a very interesting day. I noted that the Leader of the Opposition was unable to attend and that the deputy leader was unable to attend. The member for Bunbury was sent along as the representative of the opposition. An opposition member: What is wrong with that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Nothing; that is fine. It would have been nice if one of the front bench had been able to attend so that they could show the elevated importance they consider the relationship between Western Australia and China deserves. However, they did not manage to get there. Nevertheless, I do not think that Premier Wen was too upset by the absence! A government member: Did he raise that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
An opposition member: What is wrong with that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Nothing; that is fine. It would have been nice if one of the front bench had been able to attend so that they could show the elevated importance they consider the relationship between Western Australia and China deserves. However, they did not manage to get there. Nevertheless, I do not think that Premier Wen was too upset by the absence! A government member: Did he raise that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Nothing; that is fine. It would have been nice if one of the front bench had been able to attend so that they could show the elevated importance they consider the relationship between Western Australia and China deserves. However, they did not manage to get there. Nevertheless, I do not think that Premier Wen was too upset by the absence! A government member: Did he raise that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
A government member: Did he raise that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: It was a very good day on Sunday. It was a very interesting day. I noted that the Leader of the Opposition was unable to attend and that the deputy leader was unable to attend. The member for Bunbury was sent along as the representative of the opposition. An opposition member: What is wrong with that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Nothing; that is fine. It would have been nice if one of the front bench had been able to attend so that they could show the elevated importance they consider the relationship between Western Australia and China deserves. However, they did not manage to get there. Nevertheless, I do not think that Premier Wen was too upset by the absence! A government member: Did he raise that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
It was a very good day on Sunday. It was a very interesting day. I noted that the Leader of the Opposition was unable to attend and that the deputy leader was unable to attend. The member for Bunbury was sent along as the representative of the opposition. An opposition member: What is wrong with that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Nothing; that is fine. It would have been nice if one of the front bench had been able to attend so that they could show the elevated importance they consider the relationship between Western Australia and China deserves. However, they did not manage to get there. Nevertheless, I do not think that Premier Wen was too upset by the absence! A government member: Did he raise that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
An opposition member: What is wrong with that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Nothing; that is fine. It would have been nice if one of the front bench had been able to attend so that they could show the elevated importance they consider the relationship between Western Australia and China deserves. However, they did not manage to get there. Nevertheless, I do not think that Premier Wen was too upset by the absence! A government member: Did he raise that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Nothing; that is fine. It would have been nice if one of the front bench had been able to attend so that they could show the elevated importance they consider the relationship between Western Australia and China deserves. However, they did not manage to get there. Nevertheless, I do not think that Premier Wen was too upset by the absence! A government member: Did he raise that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
A government member: Did he raise that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : He did not raise it with me. At the moment, the relationship between China and Western Australia is stronger than it has ever been. That is obviously to the benefit of both of us. The growth in the Chinese economy is delivering huge benefits to Western Australia and ordinary Western Australian citizens. The value of our exports to China grew by 70 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last year. We now export approximately $8.6 billion worth of material to China and import in return approximately $1.5 billion. Therefore, by a factor of about five or six the trade balance is in our favour, and the benefit that comes to Western Australia because of that is almost incalculable. It was also of great interest to sit with Premier Wen at lunch, with our Treasurer, and to have a discussion about how Premier Wen saw the trade circumstance between Western Australia and China developing and the possible difficulties that might arise in relation to the Chinese economy. He was very, very optimistic about the steady growth of the Chinese economy. In fact, the biggest danger he saw was over-investment in the Chinese economy and what that might mean later on, but - I found this interesting because it reflects on other remarks made by Chairman Wu when he visited last year and by the Chinese leadership when I visited China last year - he was very keen to expand the trade relationship beyond commodities, to areas such as education, including the whole area of education services. He visited the hydrocarbon research centre at Curtin University of Technology. I think he made an invitation for 100 students to visit China. Some 80 000 Chinese students study in Australia at the moment, with only 4 000 in Western Australia, or five per cent. There is a lot of growth based on those numbers. The Premier was also keen to expand the trade relationship to health services, technology and biotechnology - to that whole gamut of the knowledge end of the economy that we are so keen to develop, which he sees as a great opportunity for Western Australia. It will also be to China’s benefit if it expands beyond what it is considering anyway for importing Western Australian iron ore. Western Australian iron ore is considerably cheaper for China than iron ore from its other sources, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Iron ore from those countries is much more expensive than Western Australian iron ore. The total value of iron ore imported by China is only 40 per cent from Western Australia, whereas countries like Japan and South Korea import 60 per cent of their iron ore from Western Australia. Therefore, those countries are getting a relatively better deal, because they are getting more Western Australian ore and it is cheaper for them. We encouraged the Chinese Premier to look at that possibility and so on. It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
It was also interesting, despite all the speculation and the prompting, that he did not raise uranium mining with us at all. I think he is very sensitive to the fact that the Western Australian government has a stated and known position on uranium and he displayed to us no interest in that issue whatsoever. We have a very powerful and beneficial relationship with China, and I think we all recognise that. That relationship will only improve and develop. As a result of the meeting with Chairman Wen, that improvement will be sped up. He came to Western Australia because I wrote to him in February and asked him to visit. It was a pleasant surprise to us all that at such short notice he put Western Australia at the front end of what was already a pretty tight itinerary. It was a very good visit. I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question and also all the people in Western Australia who are taking an interest in this matter. The future is very promising. Our relationship with China can only get better.
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