Australians Like to Know about PM's China Meetings: Coonan

Australians like to know about government dealings with China and don't want to be left feeling suspicious over seemingly secret meetings, a senior federal Liberal frontbencher says. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd met with China's fifth most powerful man - Li Changchun - on Saturday unbeknown to the Australian public until Tuesday, but broadcast on Chinese state-owned media on Sunday.China's main television station CCTV was lauding the meeting's outcome on its website under the headline "Australian PM promotes China's role in IMF (International Monetary Fund)" referring to a commitment by Mr Rudd, The Australian said. Opposition frontbencher Helen Coonan says meetings between the prime minister and Chinese officials should be transparent."We know these sort of things have to happen in the national interest," she told Sky News." In the kind of open society Australia lives in, we like to know about these things, and we don't like to be suspicious about or draw conclusions about something that might appear to be otherwise than transparent." Government frontbencher Craig Emerson could not say why the Australian media was not privy to the meeting, unlike state-owned Chinese media who were given access to the prime minister's official residence in Canberra.