Australia's State of Victoria launches scheme to boost ties with China

Australia's Victoria state government launched its China Strategy here on Tuesday, in a bid to further deepening the already strong relationship with China.

Victoria's China Strategy lays out an ambitious plan to ensure the state and China's shared future prosperity.

The strategy aligns Victoria's strengths with China's needs and sets ambitious targets including increasing Victoria's share of Chinese investment to Australia from 8 percent to 20 percent, increasing overnight expenditure by Chinese visitors and the number of Chinese post-graduate students enrolled in Victoria by 25 percent by 2026.

Daniel Andrews, premier of Victoria, said in his keynote speech at the launching ceremony that the new strategy will give an urgently needed renewed push to the Victoria-China relationship, which is built on strong foundations.

"This strategy is a really solid next step in a growing partnership one that is more just about transaction, it is about trust, it's about mutual benefit and understanding the prosperity we want for both community and both economies."

"It has an single purpose that is for a stronger and deeper alines between Victorian and China, institution to institution level, person to person, government to government, business and profit center to business and profit center," he said.

The premier also expressed visionary optimism about China's economy transition, saying those commentators who rush to judgement is "just wrong".

"There is a difference between the growth rate and quantity, and that point is often missed by those expert commentators."

He pointed out that the rate of growth and the size of the economy that is subjected to the rate of growth is equally important.

"There is no evidence at all that China is doing anything other than moving to a more stable level of consumption-led growth that consolidate with the guidelines they've made and we should hear no commentary to the different."

Field research had been done in the process of developing the China Strategy.

Andrews visited China last year to personally consult Chinese national and provincial governments and business, partnering with them to help develop the strategy.

Some 300 distinguish guests from government and business attended the event.

Consul-General in Melbourne Song Yumin told Xinhua that Victoria is the only Australian state that launched its own China strategy and welcomed closer collaboration between both sides.

"Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, visited China in the making of this strategy and talked with partners to make sure it's mutual beneficial and a win-win plan for both sides. I do believe this will be a guideline for deepening our friendship." Enditem