摘要：2015年6月17日中国和澳大利亚两国正式签署自贸协定（ChAFTA）。但是在澳大利亚，因为政治纷争一直影响着ChAFTA的推进，澳大利亚工会担心FTA协定带来大批中国工人涌入澳洲，威胁到本国的就业，同时澳洲工人决心通过议会程序修改协议。

　　澳大利亚最知名的商界人物之一，现任APEC经济咨询理事会澳洲会员的罗德. 爱丁顿阁下表示，跨太平洋伙伴协议（TPP）谈判涉及很多不同的议程谈判，因此谈判结果不明朗。中澳FTA虽然不完美，但毕竟迈出了坚实的一步，必须积极支持与中国签署的自贸协定…

　　请参见“澳大利亚商业评论”的详细报道

下附原文：

　　Embrace China FTA: Eddington

One of Australia's most respected business figures says the free-trade agreement with China must be embraced after the breakdown in talks to finalise a Pacific-wide deal.

Amid a political row over the China free trade deal, Rod Eddington joined other business leaders in declaring that the importance of the Sino-Australia pact was further underlined by the stalling on the weekend of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

 "I think it's really important that we ratify the China deal. Like all deals it's not perfect but it's a real step forward and we should embrace it," Sir Rod told The Australian. "Multilateral deals will always be difficult because there are just so many different agendas brought to the table."

The Business Council of Australia said the priority now had to be ratifying the China-Australia FTA after the "disappointing" failure to conclude the TPP, while Shell Australia chairman Andrew Smith said free trade agreements were important to creating jobs for young Australians. "There was a window of opportunity here to deliver this deal," Sir Rod said.

 "I know (Trade Minister) Andrew Robb and the Australian team put enormous energy into trying to deliver it. But multilateral deals are really difficult to deliver and this is an example. It's a great shame but it's an example of why they are so difficult. And it just underlines how important the bilateral deals are and how important it is we make them work."

Sir Rod, a former chief executive of Cathay Pacific, Ansett Airlines and British Airways, is an Australian member of the Business Advisory Council that gives advice to Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) leaders.

After the breakdown in negotiations to secure the TPP in Hawaii talks, the impasse would need to be overcome before the APEC summit in November in order to secure the deal. Otherwise, the deal could be clouded by US and Canadian elections. Business groups say the deal is important but there is division on how quickly it must be secured.

The China-Australia FTA, known as ChAFTA, has been mired in a political row. Unions have raised fears of an influx of Chinese workers, while Labor has vowed to use parliamentary processes to remove "faults" in the deal.

BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott yesterday said it was "vital that public debate around the agreement is well informed and not driven by a mischievous and inaccurate advertising campaign by the unions".

"The immediate priority now has to be for the Australian parliament to ratify the ChAFTA so Australia can get the most out of the relationship with its biggest trading partner," Ms Westacott said. "Australia can't afford to have a lack of bipartisanship on ChAFTA, which is one of the most important trade opportunities in our history."

Shell's Mr Smith said that while multilateral agreements were always best, "in their absence bilateral agreements are better than no agreements".

"Free trade agreements are important for the nation's prosperity, particularly creating new jobs for young Australians," he said. "It is important we regularly develop new agreements because industry is dynamic - there are industries employing Australians today that didn't even exist when previous agreements were struck. The growth of the services economy is a great example of this shift in Australia's export potential."

ANZ's head of international and institutional banking, Andrew Geczy, said China was taking steps to secure ChAFTA was "vital for our economy and for Australian jobs now and in the future".

Mr Geczy said the TPP was important and agreement still seemed possible. In the meantime, the bilateral trade deals with China, Korea and Japan were "incredibly significant".

Gene Sperling, who spent more than 11 years in the White House as an economic adviser to the Clinton and Obama administrations, told The Australian on the sidelines of the Diggers and Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie that the latest impasse was "more of a temporary setback and not a fatal blow".

"These issues - dairy, auto, biologics - these are the tough issues you expected to be tricky to close," he said, adding it would be "premature" for Australia to divert its energy away from the TPP towards other initiatives such as the free trade agreement with China. "I think you've got to see how this plays out before Australia or anyone else makes other strategic plans," he said.

This article first appeared in The Australian Business Review.