Chinese attitudes to trade agreements in the context of the proposed Australia-China Free Trade Agreement

The governments of Australia and China are presently proceeding through a process with the objective of agreeing to a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA). There is little information available on the attitude ofthe Chinese to the proposal. This paper reports and analyses research findings from business students and senior academics in a Chinese university with a view to identifying some of the qualitative judgements on the FTA issue. Findings of the survey suggest that the Chinese respondents were clearly in favour offoreign trade agreements, foreign investment and new technologies. A limiting factor is the lack ofdetailed knowledge ofAustralia. They generally considered that it would be beneficial for Chinese companies to associate with their Australian counterparts.