The visiting former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam told a press conference here Monday that political and trade relations between Australia and China are good and will continue to develop. 

He said that remarkable progress had been achieved in the bilateral cooperation in the areas such as science, trade and medicine. 

China was an important trade partner for Australia, with bilateral trade worth nine billion US dollars last year. 

 Whitlam said he believed relations between Australia and China would prosper to the benefit of both sides. 

He said in recent years, more and more Chinese students went tostudy in Australia and many Australian students chose to study Chinese here. 

 To date, over 90,000 student visas had been issued by the Australian embassy in Beijing, including 12,000 last year. 

 After receiving Approved Destination Status from the Chinese government, Australia had seen a boom in Chinese tourists and expected China to surpass Japan as an Asian tourist resource country. 

Whitlam was the former Prime Minister who took the momentous step of recognizing the People's Republic of China and thereby laying the foundations for an important bilateral relationship. 

He is visiting Beijing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Australia and China.Whitlam will also visit Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.Enditem


Xinhuanet 2002-07-29