On 11 July 2007, ambassador Zhang Junsai made a speech on the Rio Tinto-ANU partnership social function, the full text of the speech is as follows:

Professor Ross Garrnaut

Mr. Peter Grey, Deputy Secretary of DFAT

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening. It is a privilege to meet so many experts and scholars from China and Australia.

With the rapid growth of the Chinese economy, China has been emerging as the focus of the international economy in recent years. Firstly, I would like to give a brief account of the current state of the Chinese economy, even though I am talking this topic with economic scholars like playing golf with Tiger Woods.

Since the adoption of the reform and opening-up policy in 1978, the Chinese economy has grown rapidly during the past 29 years. The annual growth is as 9.5%. Last year China's GDP rose by 10.7% and the total foreign trade figure reached US $1.76 trillion, increasing by 23.8% compared with the previous year.

Over first half of this year, the economy of China has been maintaining good momentum. According to the forecast of the first half year, the GDP will achieve an 11 percent increase and foreign trade will reach US $1 trillion, increasing 24% compared with the same period last year.

Furthermore, the basic role played by the market in the economy has improved and by the end of last year, the number of private enterprises reached about 5 million, with a registered capital total of about US $1 trillion. The contribution of these private enterprises accounts for 40% of GDP.

Today, most people believe the economy of China will continue to steadily increase. Confidence has been growing day by day.

There are not many people who would like to accept the so called "view of China collapse". On the contrary, they are concerned that the economy of China is growing too rapidly and the economy has been over heated. For example, the surge of the stock market of China this year has drawn enormous interest and brought wide attention from scholars both domestic and foreign.

China's economic development impacts on the world economy, a flow-on effect of this is reflected in the rapid enhancement of the economic relationship between China and Australia.

Along with the rapid pace of industrialization, China's needs for energy resources are increasing. This offers a big stage for economic cooperation between China and Australia.

Trade and investment between the two countries has risen quickly. Seven years ago bilateral trade was 8.45 billion US dollars only. It reached more than 33 billion US dollars last year, three times more than seven years earlier. According to China's statistics, bilateral trade amounted to 15.9 billion US dollars from January to May this year. Australia has become China's eight biggest trading partners while China is likely to become the No. 1 trading partner of Australia.

Due to the enhancement of trade cooperation and mutual interdependence, more and more Australians are expressing an interest in China, especially China's economy. China's stable and ongoing economic development has become the most important common interest between China and Australia. In this circumstance, the economists and scholars of the two countries are encouraged to strengthen communication and research on China's economy, offering more good ideas to secure the stability of China-Australia economic relationship.

Undoubtedly, I think the China Update Conference is the most successful vehicle for communication and collaboration. Many Chinese and Australian prominent experts and scholars are involved and Australian enterprises, such as Rio Tinto are supportive. The participation of both academic and business communities will be helpful to ensure research which is more practical and feasible. I believe the annual China Update Conference will get better and better.

Next, I would like to raise a few personal suggestions on your future research topics.

The first one is China's financial reform, especially on the stock market and foreign exchange rate.

The second one is how to avoid the frictions and conflicts during China's fast integration into the world economic system.

The third is the establishment of China-Australia FTA. Until now, both sides have finished eight rounds of negotiations and made important achievements but we are still facing a lot of difficulties. I hope that academic circles from both countries can play a positive role in this process by coming up with initiatives and suggestions.

The fourth one is the environment and climate change issue. What kind of impacts will this issue make on both China and Australia's economy and the world economy as well? This has become a significant priority as a research subject recently.

The above four points are purely my personal ideas and for reference only.

To conclude my address, I would like to launch the China Update Companion Book that was published jointly by China Social Science Academic Press and Asia Pacific Press of ANU; and also thank the scholars and experts who wrote and edited the book.

Thank you.