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HANOI: The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has met her Chinese counterpart for the first time and has agreed to visit China next year.
Ms Gillard met the Premier, Wen Jiabao, in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi yesterday on the sidelines of the 16-nation East Asia Summit.
The summit brings together the leaders of the 10 ASEAN countries plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
Advertisement: Story continues belowMs Gillard said she and Mr Wen discussed a wide range of economic, political and defence matters.
''China is obviously hugely important to Australia and hugely important as a rising power in our world,'' Ms Gillard told reporters after the meeting.
''We obviously want to see China involved in the international system in a rules-based framework.''
Ms Gillard said she was pleased Mr Wen had invited her to visit China at a mutually convenient time next year.
''I very much look forward to that visit,'' she said.
Ms Gillard met the New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, and the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, on Friday.
At the meeting Ms Gillard raised her plan for a regional asylum-seeker processing centre.
''I said Australia is pursuing a regional protection framework and a regional processing centre,'' Ms Gillard said.
''That was noted by the United Nations Secretary-General, and I will continue as I have bilateral meetings [to raise] questions of people-smuggling and people movements in our region.''
Ms Gillard said she would also raise people-smuggling during the summit itself, as well as a variety of economic and trade matters.
She would also voice concerns about the elections in Burma, to be held next Sunday.
''Australia is, of course, committed to pressing for free elections, for transparency, for the release of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and for reconciliation within Burma.''
Ms Gillard is expected to meet the leaders of India, Laos and the Philippines. She will meet Vietnamese leaders today.
She will also travel to Kuala Lumpur today for talks with the Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, and then to Jakarta for talks with the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
She will return to Australia on Thursday.
The 10 members of ASEAN are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
AAP
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