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BEIJING : Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urged China on Thursday to talk with exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama, although his comments appeared not to hinder trade between the two countries.
"The question of dialogue (with the Dalai Lama), of course, was raised," Rudd told reporters following two-and-a-half hours of talks with Premier Wen Jiabao that also included lunch.
"The position of the Australian government is that there are significant human rights problems in Tibet which require resolution through, number one, non-violent approaches and, two, through dialogue."
Rudd, a fluent Mandarin speaker and former Beijing-based diplomat, is the highest-profile western leader to visit China since unrest erupted in Tibet last month.
When asked about Rudd's position on Tibet, Chinese foreign ministry repeated its policy that anything to do with the Himalayan region was China's own concern.
"The Tibetan affairs are purely China's internal affairs, and none of the foreign governments or groups have the right to interfere in that," ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.
China's communist rulers vehemently deny they are responsible for religious and cultural repression in Tibet, and insist their control of the remote region has benefited its devoutly Buddhist people.
However Tibetan exiled leaders say more than 150 people have been killed in the Chinese crackdown on the protests over the past month. China says it has killed no one, and blamed Tibetan "rioters" for the deaths of 20 people.
For years, China has consistently said it will hold dialogue with the Dalai Lama only after the Buddhist leader renounces activities advocating Tibetan independence.
Since unrest in the Himalayan region began on March 10, Beijing has also said the Dalai Lama must end the unrest and curb Tibetan efforts to "sabotage" the Beijing Olympics before it will sit down for talks.
The Dalai Lama has long said that he is seeking only greater autonomy for Tibet within China and that he opposes the use of violence in the ongoing protests.
"We have disagreements, including on human rights generally and Tibet most recently and specifically," Rudd admitted.
But he said the relationship between China and Australia was mature and he was upbeat about the way forward.
"I'm a great optimist when it comes to the future of the Australian-China relationship. If we continue that kind of relationship, it should be good for the two countries and hopefully for the region and the world," he said.
And despite their differences on Tibet, Rudd said Australia and China had agreed to restart stalled negotiations on a free trade pact.
"We agreed to unfreeze what has been the frozen bilateral negotiations for a free trade agreement between Australia and China," he said.
"We are both committed to ensuring that this will be a broadly based, comprehensive and substantive free trade agreement."
Trade officials for the two nations would meet within a month's time to begin identifying the obstacles that blocked earlier negotiations and begin drawing up a road map on the way forward, he added.
Australia began negotiating a free trade agreement with China in May 2005 but officials said late last year that while differences had recently narrowed on some issues, overall progress was slow.
The two sides also agreed on Thursday to set up a ministry-level committee to discuss climate change, as well as support the expansion of bilateral cooperation in the services industry, especially financial services, Rudd said.
China last year became Australia's largest trading partner with trade amounting to 43.8 billion dollars in 2007, according to figures from China's General Administration of Customs.
Rudd arrived on Wednesday for a four-day visit. He is due to meet President Hu Jintao at a business forum in the southern Chinese island of Hainan on the weekend. - AFP/de
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