Australia's Asian push at risk in poll: Keating

Australia's Asian push at risk in poll: Keating

CANBERRA (Reuter): Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating,
fighting for his political survival, warned voters yesterday that
Australia could turn its back on Asia if the conservative
opposition won the March 2 general election.

Keating, still well behind in opinion polls a week before the
ballot, said the ruling Labor Party's efforts to bind the nation
to Asia was a cornerstone of its 13 years in government.

"Don't let the fire go out...," he said in a radio interview
when asked for a single reason why voters should re-elect Labor
for a record sixth consecutive term in office.

"This is a period of such great opportunity for Australia,
particularly in Asia. If we turn out back now and look backwards,
we are finished.

"I just can't see us being able to get that restarted while
that window of opportunity is open."

The issue of Australia's integration with the Asian region has
figured highly throughout the campaign, with Keating linking it
with his push for the nation to become a republic by year 2001
and with his pursuit of an Asia-Pacific free trade area.

"Let the Australian nation...go to Asia, the fastest growing
part of the world, with our heads held high with an Australian as
our head of state. That's our vision of Australia," said Keating,
who has said he is obsessed with Asia.

Over 60 percent of Australia's merchandise exports are sold
into Asia and the country wants to rival Singapore as a hub for
multinationals launching into the region.

Opposition leader John Howard, who personally favors retaining
a representative of the British monarchy as head of state, has
rejected Keating's assertion that Australia must sever its ties
with Britain to be taken seriously in Asia.

Howard, who denies his conservative coalition of Liberal and
National parties will stall the country's integration with its
Asian neighbors, has countered Keating's criticisms by actively
courting votes among ethnic Asian communities.

Condemned in 1988 for calling for a cut in Asian immigration,
Howard appears to have largely mended his image among two of
Australia's biggest Asian communities, ethnic Chinese and
Vietnamese, together numbering over 380,000 people.

Opinion polls published in the Chinese press and comments from
a leading figure in the Vietnamese community suggest many Asians
have accepted Howard's apology for his 1988 remark.

"He's tried very hard to meet with the community," said David
Giang, editor of the Vietnamese-language The Sunrise Daily and a
commissioner for the New South Wales state Ethnic Affairs
Commission.

"Howard had many views they do not like..., but he can change
and that's what people like to see," he told Reuters.

Among the influential Chinese community, Howard also seems to
have made inroads. Polls carried by the community newspaper
Independence Daily shows his support rising from 18 percent to
over 30 percent since campaigning began on Jan. 27.

Keating appeared confident and relaxed on the campaign trail
on Friday despite his 6.6-percentage-point handicap in national
opinion polls, as his party hoped for a confidence-boosting win
in a provincial election in the state of Tasmania today.

Labor claims its opinion polling puts it ahead of Tasmania's
Liberal government, but political analysts are tipping a hung
state parliament.