Australia PM Julia Gillard outlines pro-Asia manifesto

A government white paper, presented by Australian PM Julia Gillard sets out 25 national objectives to be met by 2025, with targets ranging from improving trade links to teaching more Mandarin.

Gillard said she wanted to refocus Australia away from Europe's "old countries" towards its near neighbours - particularly China and India.

The government white paper seeks to formalise trends which emerged over the past three decades where China became Australia's top trading partner, ahead of Japan, the US and South Korea.

Some of the goals outlined are specific, others more aspirational, such as boosting Australia's average national income from $62,000 (£41,000) per person now to $73,000 in 2025, and improving the school system so it is ranked in the world's top five, with 10 of its universities in the world's top 100.

Other policy proposals include making studies of Asia a core part of the Australian school curriculum, giving all students the opportunity to learn a priority Asian language - Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Indonesian or Japanese, and making sure more business leaders are "Asia-literate".

"The scale and pace of Asia's rise is staggering, and there are significant opportunities and challenges for all Australians," she said.

"It is not enough to rely on luck - our future will be determined by the choices we make and how we engage with the region we live in," she stressed.

On security issues, the white paper says any policy aimed at containing China's military growth would not work, and stresses instead that Australia can balance its defence ties to the US while backing China's emerging military strength.

A member of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) group, Australia is one of the 11 nations involved in negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), both of which aim to liberalise regional trade.