MASSIVE ENERGY DEAL SHOWS CHINA-AUSTRALIA TIES ON TRACK

       US$41-bn contract to supply LNG is Aust's biggest ever
       A massive energy deal signed by China and Australia shows that relations are on track between teh Asia-Pacific economic pwerhouses despite recent political tensions, analysts said yesterday.
       Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Exxon Mobil's US$41.3 billion (Bt1.4 trillion) liquefied natural gas contract with PetroChina would create up to 6,000 jobs and pump billions of dollars into the economy.
       "This agreement provides the basis for the creation of thouands of jobs and also injecting billions of dollars into our economy," he said.
       China's biggest oil and gas producer PetroChina ordered 2.25 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year over 20 years from ExxonMobil's share of Australia's Gorgon plant, a deal totalling $41.3 billion.
       The news came shortly after Austrlia's Fortescue Metals offered China discount iron ore prices, breaking a months-long stalemente in talks complicated by Beijing's arrest of a Rio Tinto executive on suspicion of bribery.
       "The [PetroChina] deal proves that Rio Tinto is just an individual case...and the close trade ties between China and Australia will not be affected," said Han Xuegong, a professor at CNPC Managers Training Institue in Shanghai. "Mutual cooperation between the two countries will just get closer and closer in the long run."
       Wang Yong, a professor of international relations as Peking University, agreed, saying the timing of the deal showed that China was willing to work with Australia to resole inevitable disagreements.
       "China will deal with disputes emerging between the two countries in a cooperative way," he said.
       "China values economic cooperation with Australia and hopes to maintain the momentum."
       China is australia's second-most important trade partner, with the relationship worth $58 billion last year, according to official figures.
       Energy-hungry China has increasingly turned to resoure-rich Australia in recent months to keep its economy, the world's third largest, growing, investing heavily in oil, gas and mining firms.
       But the arrest last month of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, following Rio's rejection of a proposed $19.5 - billion investment from China's state-owned metals giant Chinalco, raised fears that trade ties would suffer.
       Canberra's decision to approve the recent visit of exiled Uighur leader Ebiya Kadeer, blamed by Beijing for orchestrating last month's dealy ethnic unrest in China's Xinjiang region, compounded those concerns.
       But analysts said the economic interdependence of the two countries would reventually overshadow diplomatic spats.
       "While there's been a few hiccups over the last few months, at the end of the day, the business relationship's still very solid," said Shane Oliver, chief economist with AMP Capital Investors in Sydney.
       "The bottom line is that both countries are still well and truly open to doing business with each other."
       Niu Li, an economist at China's State Information Centre, a top government think-tank, described ties as "healthy", adding: "Australia really needs the Chinese market and China needs to go abroad to secure its energy supplies."
       Officials in both countries also sought to downplay the frictions between them.
       Australian Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson ws quoted as saying the ExxonMobil-PetroChina deal was "testimony to the strength of Australia's continuing trade and investment relationship with China".
       Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang, asked whether a Chinese minister had cancelled a visit to Australia over the Rio case and Kadeer's visit, said yesterday that both sides were "clear" about Beijing's concerns.