Mr. Kevin Rudd, the Opposition Leader in the Australian Federal Parliament, surprised and amused his audience with his fluent Chinese at a luncheon held for Chinese President Hu Jintao, who was in Australia attending a summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

The luncheon on September 6 was hosted by Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Recent polls show that Rudd leads by a large margin over Howard to become Australia’s top executive in the next election.

At the luncheon, speaking lengthily in Mandarin Chinese, Rudd extended his welcome to Hu, talked about his personal connection to China, and expressed his commitment to the development of a productive relationship between Australia and China. Trained as a diplomat, Rudd worked at the Australian embassy in Beijing in the 1980s. He subsequently taught as an language professor at an Australian university till he was elected to the Parliament.

Hu complimented Rudd on his language skills and later invited Rudd to visit Beijing next year when Beijing will host the 2008 Olympic Games.

Alexander Downer, Australia’s foreign minister, was less impressed by Rudd’s performance than other attendees of the luncheon. Like Rudd, Downer started his political career in the foreign ministry. According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, when asked to comment on Rudd‘s speech at the luncheon, Downer said: "I did the French language course and Mr Rudd did the Chinese language course. I did mine in two months and he did his in two years, that could say something about him and me or something about the two languages. I think the former but that sounds a tad partisan."

A poll conducted in early September indicates that Australia Labor Party headed by Rudd was favored over the ruling Liberal-National coalition by a margin of eighteen percent points (59% vs. 41%) in the upcoming national election.