Chinese premier warns Australia against protectionism


              FILE - In this March 15, 2017, file photo, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks at a press conference after the closing session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Li is due to arrive in the Australian capital Canberra on Wednesday, March 22, 2017, on a mission to expand bilateral ties as U.S. President Donald Trump proposes an “America First” overhaul of global trade. Li’s visit to Australia and New Zealand is the first by a Chinese premier in 11 years. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
FILE - In this March 15, 2017, file photo, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks at a press conference after the closing session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Li is due to arrive in the Australian capital Canberra on Wednesday, March 22, 2017, on a mission to expand bilateral ties as U.S. President Donald Trump proposes an “America First” overhaul of global trade. Li’s visit to Australia and New Zealand is the first by a Chinese premier in 11 years. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - China's premier has warned against protectionism, saying his country planned to close its $50 billion a year deficit with Australia by expanding the trading the relationship rather than retreating from it.

Premier Li Keqiang said in a speech in Australia's Parliament House on Thursday that globalization created "some problems," but that free trade is not to blame.

He says China "cannot close our doors" to solve its trade imbalance with Australia, which last year left the Chinese with a $50 billion deficit largely through industrial demand for iron ore and coal.

Li and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will on Friday detail an expansion of their two-year-old bilateral free trade pact in the areas of investment and services.

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