Former prime minister John Howard said he considered it “strange” that any Australians should suggest phasing out the nation's coal industry while addressing a conference of Chinese and Australian entrepreneurs.

Mr Howard told the Sino-Australasian Entrepreneurs Summit that the rise of China had been “good for the Chinese people and good for the world” and that the economies of the two nations were complementary.

"For heaven’s sake [coal] is one of our great assets", former prime minister John Howard said. Credit:Jessica Hromas

“There is no doubt that the resource trade between Australia and China is and will continue for many decades into the future to be enduringly important to the economic links between our two countries,” he told the audience at the Australian Stock Exchange in Sydney.

“It is passing strange to me that some Australians talk about phasing out coal. For heaven’s sake it is one of our great assets … [iron ore and coal] exports form the bedrock of our trading relationship with China.”