Australia needs to build strong ties with China

SYDNEY -- Australian media mogul Kerry Stokes said Friday that Australia should build a strong relationship with China to secure future trade.

The billionaire businessman believes that Australia's poor attitude towards China endangers trade with the country as Australia has been seen as an unfriendly and difficult place to do business.

"In the future there will be other nations around the world who will challenge us by providing what we offer at far more competitive prices," Stokes told a conference on Australia-China relations on Friday.

"We want to be in a position then that prices are not the only reason that we trade with China, because in the future, if price is the only reason we trade with China, we will lose."

Stokes said Australia needs to forge a close relationship with China outside of mining.

"Resources are finite, so build services like education, business and tourism; the most renewable resource we have and we can share with them," he said.

"China still wants Australia to invest in China and they desire a partnership and they desire it to be built on respect and mutually beneficial outcomes."