Associated Press

Canberra, April 28:

China and Australia have agreed to fast-track a study into establishing a free trade agreement, Australian trade minister Mark Vaile said today. Vaile said the agreement was reached during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Bo Xilai in Beijing yesterday.Australian and Chinese officials have been looking into the possibility of a free trade accord since Chinese president Hu Jintao visited Canberra last October. The study had been expected to take two years to complete. But Vaile said he and Bo, “agreed to fast-track completion of the free trade agreement study.”

Once it is finished, the two governments will decide whether a trade deal would be in their respective interests. Trade minister Vaile did not announce a new deadline for the completion of the study, which could recommend China’s first free trade deal with a developed economy.

Part of the study is aimed at satisfying Australian authorities that China is a free market economy, free of state-subsidised predatory trade policies such as dumping. Products that cannot be sold at a high price in a domestic market are said to be dumped if they are sold in a foreign market at a low price. The benefits are capturing a new market as well as keeping prices high at home. North American and European countries, which have initiated several antidumping actions against Chinese products recently, believe that China’s state-owned banking system still operates as a massive, economy-wide subsidy device. Australia has recently been eyeing more FTAs with many nations.