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SYDNEY (AFP)--A row over Australia's relations with China grew more heated Monday as the opposition rejected accusations it was playing the race card and reviving fears of the "yellow peril."

Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull, who heads the conservative Liberal Party, dismissed as "contemptible" the claim that he was trying to stir up anti-China sentiment.

Turnbull had accused Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a Chinese-speaking avowed Sinophile, of acting like a "roving ambassador" for Beijing by pressing for China to be given a bigger role in the International Monetary Fund.

The opposition leader also attacked defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon's failure to declare two trips to China paid for by a Beijing-born businesswoman.

In response, finance minister Lindsay Tanner accused Turnbull of "trying to stir up some more yellow peril sentiments, frankly."

Yellow peril was a racist term commonly used in the early 1900s, when many Australians feared Asia's large population coveted their country's wide open spaces and was intent on invading.

Turnbull responded Monday by accusing Tanner of avoiding the central issue of the national interest and raising "specters of racism and casting back to bygone eras."

Tanner's remarks "suggest we should just fall into line with whatever China wants," Turnbull told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who is in charge while Rudd is in London for the G20 meeting this week, defended the integrity of Australia's relationship with Beijing, calling China an "emerging superpower."

The government had to engage with the Asian giant because of its role and size in the region and its position as Australia's second biggest trading partner, she told ABC radio.

Gillard accused the opposition of making "absurd propositions" in trying to create concern about some kind of conspiracy between the government and China.

The controversy has been fuelled by newspaper reports that two senior Chinese government officials have travelled to Australia for talks with Rudd without local media being informed of the meetings.

The visits - by security and intelligence chief Zhou Yongkang last year and by propaganda chief Li Changchun last week - were reported by Chinese media but no information was provided locally, the Sydney Morning Herald said.

The row comes against the backdrop of intense debate in Australia over moves by Chinese state-owned entities to buy into the country's vast resource base.

Politicians from both ends of the political spectrum have questioned whether Australia is ceding control of its vast natural reserves by allowing state-owned Chinese companies to pump billions of dollars into resource firms.

The issue has been brought into sharp focus by Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. (ACH)'s proposed $19.5 billion investment in Rio Tinto Ltd. (RIO.AU) and China Minmetals' AUD$2.6 billion ($1.76 billion) takeover bid for OZ Metals.

The Rio deal is still under consideration but the government announced last week that the Oz Minerals takeover couldn't proceed if it included a major mine in a restricted military area used for rocket testing.

Foreign minister Stephen Smith said Monday Australia's relations with Beijing were too important to be compromised by party political attacks and that Turnbull was sending mixed messages.

"At the end of last week and over the weekend Mr. Turnbull and some of his frontbenchers were out there effectively beating an anti-China drum.

"Now today we have Mr. Turnbull saying our relationship with China is very important."

Asked about reports that a cyber-espionage network based mostly in China has infiltrated government and private computers around the world, Smith said he was confident Australian intelligence networks were secure.