Canberra - Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang started a fence-mending visit to Australia on Friday by urging the government not to discriminate against Chinese investment.
Li's first visit here in 13 years comes amid strained relations over alleged Australian government restrictions on Chinese investment in mining and the arrest of an Australian mining executive in China.
China's communist government has also protested to Australia over a recent visit here by Rebiya Kadeer, a US-based ethnic Uighur Muslim from China's west whom Beijing brands a terrorist.
In his first public speech since he arrived in Australia, Li told an audience of businessmen in Sydney that China and Australia - a key supplier of raw materials for Chinese manufacturers - should focus on their economic relationship.
"China appreciates Australia's open foreign investment policy and we hope that Australia will continue to promote a nondiscriminatory policy with regard to foreign direct investment," Li said through an interpreter.
Opposition lawmakers in Australia have warned against state-controlled Chinese companies gaining a strategic stake in the Australian minerals and energy industry that feeds China's manufacturing growth.
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto recently scrapped a $19.5bn deal with China's Chinalco after vocal political opposition.
Australia maintains that it does not discriminate against any country when determining whether to allow foreign investment in financially stressed Australian companies.
During strained contract negotiations with Chinese steelmakers over iron ore prices, Rio Tinto employees, including Australian citizen Stern Hu, were charged in China with infringing trade secrets and bribery in the multibillion-dollar iron ore trade. The charges have not been resolved.
"We should encourage dialogue, mutual trust and reduce mistrust and properly handle our differences to ensure that our financial relationship is not deviated from the main track of growth because of a particular incident at a particular time," Li said.
Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who attended Li's speech, said the visit by Li - touted as a potential future Chinese president - was an important step in settling "ripples" in the bilateral relationship.
"Now that he's come, I think that's a very firm indication that those major difficulties are behind us and we can go forward now on what is going to be a very prosperous, win-win path for both countries," Hawke told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Li, one of China's most influential economic figures, arrived in Australia late Thursday as the guest of Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
He had a meeting followed by dinner on Friday with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat to Beijing, at his official home in the federal capital Canberra.
The leaders discussed foreign investment issues and agreed to conclude four-year-old negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement as quickly as possible, Rudd's office said in a statement after the meeting.
They also agreed that "while it was natural that Australia and China would have different views from time to time, relations had been growing recently," the statement said.
Li travels on Saturday to Brisbane, capital of the mineral and energy-rich Queensland state, before traveling to New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
Australia is China's eighth largest trading partner with two-way trade worth $60bn. China is Australia'slargest trading partner, buying large quantities of Australian iron ore and gas.
- AP