Published by: World Tibet Network News, Wednesday, October 16 1996

CANBERRA, Oct 16 (AFP) - Australian defence chief General John Baker, Wednesday foreshadowed a significant boost in military ties with China, including a visit here by his Chinese counterpart next year.

Baker visited China last month on a trip which marked what was considered the resumption of military ties following their total breakdown in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Speaking at a news conference here, he said defence had been at the forefront of developing relations with Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia but was lagging behind the trade and economic relationship with China.

He said the biggest threat was misunderstanding through not building mutual confidence from exchanging strategic perceptions and views.

However, he said, the relationship with China would probably not develop to include military exercises.

"The overall strategy in dealing with the region is to get coordination between foreign, economic, trade and defence policies," he said.

"There was a need for us to continue to develop our relationship with the region and my going to China was part of that opening of new avenues of discussion."

Baker said he was well received in China, despite the visit taking place at a time of tension between the two countries with China objecting to Prime Minister John Howard meeting the Dalai Lama during his Australian tour.

"As a result I expect my Chinese counterpart -- General Fu Quanyou, chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army, (PLA) -- to visit Australia next year as part of the ongoing development of the defence relationship," he said.

Baker said he had lectured at the PLA's National Defence University on Australian defence policy and would expect General Fu to talk to the Australian College of Defence and Strategic Studies (ACDSS) about Chinese policy.

"We have invited a group to come from their think-tank organisation to have some military to military discussions on policy issues in future," he said.

"I am hoping that next year that will start to develop. There are a whole series of things we can run in parallel."

He said he believed discussions would touch on the delicate issue of human rights.

"How much it influences them is fairly hard to judge," he said.

"We need to talk about our different perceptions of the way of doing things. It is part of the understanding.

"It is confidence building and transparency so that we don't misjudge each other.

"That is an important part of developing towards the stability and prosperity of the region."

The general added that there was a standing invitation for a Chinese student to come and study at ACDSS.