Australia should not let concern about China's human rights record stand in the way of the trade relationship, former prime minister Bob Hawke says.
Wednesday marks the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests in which pro-democracy student demonstrators were brutally killed by security forces.
In June 1989 an emotional Mr Hawke gave a speech in Parliament House in Canberra paying tribute to the "acts of indescribable bravery" and declared that to "crush the spirit and body of youth is to crush the very future of China itself".
He also offered a one-year extension to student visas, which triggered applications from about 10,000 Chinese students.
Returning to the issue at a National Press Club event on Wednesday, Mr Hawke said Australia would not be in such a strong economic position without China.
"That doesn't mean you shut your mind to the moral issues, but the correct answer to the question is we would be in God's most awful mess if we didn't have the relationship," Mr Hawke said.
Mr Hawke said he had been invited to China soon after the massacre and had expressed his concerns to the Chinese leadership.
"They understand the concern that we had and that we will continue to have, and it is not going to stand in the way," he said.
"You won't see a repeat of that situation."
Former prime minister John Howard, who joined Mr Hawke at the press club, said it would be "stupid" to interfere with the trade relationship with China.
"If you care about the Chinese people as well as caring obviously about our own future and welfare, an economically stronger China is good for the world," he said.
"We have seen more people lifted out of poverty through the spread, dare I say it, of capitalism in China."
