A warm welcome to everyone participating in this virtual conference and special thanks to the organizing committee of the Aust-China Economic Trade and Investment Expo in partnership, on this occasion with the Aust-China Business Council (Vic), China Chamber of Commerce in Australia with support from the Victorian Government and Austrade.

Of course, in 2019 the events included a three-day exhibition, a one-day conference and multiple networking activities, all held in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was a great success.

Sadly, the pandemic has forced the postponement of the offline events until next year. Instead, there is this one-day virtual conference.

Nevertheless, our organizers and sponsors have organized a great program of senior politicians, economists, academics and many business leaders from Australia and China to help us consider and devise business solutions and strategies to succeed after the pandemic.

In devising these solutions and strategies, this morning I would like to particularly acknowledge the Australian Chinese community which makes up 6% of our total population with over 1.3 million people.

The Australian Chinese diaspora not only have been valuable and likeable citizens of Australia, but they provide a bridge between the two business cultures, explaining Western business practices to their Chinese counterparts and Chinese business practices to their Western colleagues. This contribution has been of enormous consequence in the rapid expansion of Australia’s business relationship with China.

One very important facet of this role is to highlight the importance our Chinese friends place on “face”.

“Face” is all about respect and sincerity; and it is inescapable in China if you wish to succeed.

“Face” is the foundation of Chinese social relationships, and, not surprisingly it is the foundation of genuine long-term business in China.

Working in China we must remember “face” for our Chinese colleagues but also “face” for ourselves – these two aspects are often inseparable.

The common path to “face” starts with humility – China need not be a humbling experience, but humility is a path to success.

One other factor in consolidating our relationship with China is to see China today for what it is.

Many people make the mistake of viewing China through the lens of 20 to 30 years ago.

Yet the last 20 years alone has seen an unimaginable change in so many dimensions.

Poverty has virtually disappeared in China, with literally many hundreds of millions of Chinese moving out of poverty; it is a testament to the priorities of the Chinese community.

Not so long-ago China was known as the world of copying, now we are seeing Chinese firms having their technology copied by others around the world.

At these challenging times, we need to work hard to reverse the souring of our political relationship.

The irony is that while at a political level our relationship is facing some difficulties, at a commercial level our relationship has never been better.

In our society elected members of Parliament, the media, and our community generally are able to freely express their views. This can create issues as we know, yet we see, and I see this as a great strength of our liberal democratic system.

So, we need to all work harder at understanding and respecting the different morals and foundations which underpin our communities.

This is probably a never-ending task, but we must persist because the Australian people are friends of the Chinese people. I can attest, on the ground, there are no hard feelings; there remains still very warm feelings towards each other.

The presence of respect and sincerity will ensure not only “face”, but an enduring friendship between the people of our two nations.

The Hon Andrew Robb AO
Chairman
The Robb Group