Ｓｐｅｅｃｈ ｂｙ Ｆｏｒｍｅｒ Ａｕｓｔｒａｌｉａｎ Ｐｒｉｍｅ Ｍｉｎｉｓｔｅｒ Ｒ． Ｊ． Ｌ． Ｈａｗｋｅ

I thank the CPAFFC for the invitation to be with you and speak on this important occasion of your fiftieth anniversary. I congratulate CPAFFC on the continuing， effective work it has done over these fifty years to increase and deepen the understanding between the people of China and the rest of the world.

My first visit to China， in 1978， coincided with the moves led by Deng Xiaoping to turn China towards a market economy and opening to the outside world. In the generation since then， the two most significant features of the global economic/political environment have been the collapse of the Soviet Union and the burgeoning growth of China along the path set by Deng Xiaoping， developed by President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji and now consolidated under President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. These two features are not unrelated.

In the more than three hour meeting I had as Prime Minister with President Gorbachev in Moscow in December， 1987， no subject seemed to fascinate him more than what was happening in China. He questioned me at length about my understanding of how you were going about the achievement of your spectacular economic progress. His realization of the pathetic contrast between those achievements and the dismal， declining performance of their own sclerotic command system was， without any doubt， a considerable factor in his conviction that that system was unsustainable. The Reagan Administration was entitled to claim the credit， customarily accorded to it， for its role in the demise of the Soviet Union. Less often acknowledged， but nevertheless very real， was the role that you in China played in that demise. Your stark， convincing and continuing demonstration of the capacity and superiority of the market system and opening to the outside world， in lifting growth and the living standards of your people， put the final nails in the coffin of that decaying， yet still dangerous empire.

I would suggest， therefore， that no other country has made such a positive contribution as China in shaping the opportunity， not only for its own people， but for those of this region and the rest of the world， to benefit from the application of human， material and technical resources in lifting living standards free from the threat of global conflict at the super-power level and the diversion of those resources which such conflict would entail.

That opportunity of course was put tragically into question by the dramatic exposure of the threat of international terrorism on September 11， 2001. China’s immediate sympathetic response and preparedness to join with the U.S.， in fighting that threat was welcomed not only by the U.S.， but by the rest of the world. When the United States lost the plot in pursuing that fight by its invasion of Iraq， China， to its great credit， not only disassociated itself from what so many of us predicted would be a disaster. That， after all， was not a hard call to make.

More importantly， China has， I believe， earned almost universal respect by its readiness to put aside its widely-shared concern with American adventurism in Iraq and work with the United States——and the four other countries——to address the problems associated with the nuclear pretensions of North Korea.

In Asia more generally， China’s relations with ASEAN， as with India， have improved considerably with the growing realization of the opportunities for mutual benefit in further cooperation in the areas of trade and security. And it should be noted that with the enlargement of the European Union to twenty-five members， the EU has now moved ahead of Japan and the United States as China’s major trading partner. That fact is being reflected in a widening and deepening dialogue between China and countries of the European Union.

And so， my friends， I speak to you today in a China， in so many ways， unrecognizably different from the country I first visited a generation ago. You have lifted the standards of living and enlarged the lives of hundreds of millions of your own people， and stimulated growth in many of the countries of your region. The peoples of nations around the world are steadily getting a better appreciation not just of your economic achievements but also of your substantial contributions to meeting the challenges to global security.

The CPAFFC has played a very important role in building mutual understanding between the peoples of China and your fellow citizens of our global community. I congratulate you on your achievements. I am confident that in the years ahead you， and the great country you represent， will do even more to contribute to the prosperity， and the security， of that community of nations.