1999 Australia-China Council Awards
In December 1999 the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Downer, presented the inaugural Australia-China Council Awards to four Chinese and four Australians under several categories (community, culture, business, science and technology), at a ceremony in Adelaide. All recipients had made an outstanding contribution to the bilateral relationship and were eminent their fields. Each awardee received a gold medallion struck at the Australian Mint.
Chinese and Australian recipients of the inaugural Australia-China Council Awards (from left) Dr Albert Mau, Prof Jiang Zaifang, Prof Colin Mackerras, Prof Stephen FitzGerald, His Excellency Mr Zhu Qizhen, Prof Hu Wenzhong, Mr Brooks Wilson AM and Mr Qin Xiao, Adelaide, December 1999.
Community Award
Australia:
Professor Stephen FitzGerald AO, a leading authority on Australia's relations with Asia generally who has made a significant contribution to the Australia-China relationship. Professor Fitzgerald was Australia's first Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 1973 to 1976.
China:
Ambassador Zhu Qizhen, a major architect of China's relationship with Australia from its earliest days. Ambassador Zhu opened the Chinese Embassy in Canberra as Charge d'Affaires in 1973.
Culture Award
Australia:
Professor Colin Mackerras, School of Asian Studies and International Studies at Griffith University. Prof Mackerras has been widely published and has taught extensively in Chinese politics, history and culture. He is well known as the presenter of the ABC's Dragon's Tongue Mandarin language teaching program.
China:
Professor Hu Wenzhong, Professor of English at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, specialises in Australian literature. Professor Hu was one of the "gang of nine" chosen by the Chinese government to learn English in Australia at the time China was opening to the outside world. Many of his students have gone on to become diplomats serving around the world, including Canberra.
Business Award
Australia:
Mr Brooks Wilson, former Managing Director of Koppers Australia. Mr Wilson first visited China in 1980 seeking a supplier of coal tar pitch that could be exported from China for use in Australian aluminium smelters. A chance meeting in Beijing resulted in a ten year trade agreement, the first of its kind between the two countries.
China:
Mr Qin Xiao, of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC), who was Chairman of CITIC Australia from 1991 until 1995, when he was appointed Group President of CITIC in Beijing. Under Mr Qin's direction, CITIC Australia has been actively evolving its business activities in the areas of resources and primary industries and now has an annual turn over in Australia of over $900 million.
Science and Technology Award
Australia:
Dr Albert Mau, an expert in molecular science with the CSIRO in Melbourne. Dr Mau has promoted collaborative links between Australian and Chinese industry, as well as scientific research facilities and was responsible for landmark collaborative developments in the processing of brackish water for human consumption in China.
China:
Professor Jiang Zaifang, an eminent paediatrician from Beijing, who is considered one of the most prominent teachers of modern paediatrics in the world. Professor Jiang's deep understanding of traditional Chinese medicine, together with her Western scientific understanding, has meant that through her teaching she has been able to stimulate doctors to consider news ways of looking at unsolved problems.
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