A FRISSON of hope ran through Canberra this week as Prime Minister Helen Clark and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao sealed the West's first Free Trade Ag... From: New Zealand Herald (Auckland, New Zealand) | Date: April 12, 2008 | COPYRIGHT 2008 Independent News & Media PLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

A FRISSON of hope ran through Canberra this week as Prime Minister Helen Clark and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao sealed the West's first Free Trade Agreement with the rising Asian giant in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

Only days after Clark's triumph, Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd emerged from a meeting with Wen to announce that the two countries would resume negotiations for their own free trade pact, and that Trade Minister Simon Crean would fly to Beijing next ...