Australia’s prime minister, Tony Abbott, has lauded a brief aside about democracy in Chinese president Xi Jinping’s speech to the Australian parliament as a commitment that China would be fully democratic by 2050.

In a wide-ranging address on Monday, Xi referenced democracy in explaining “the Chinese dream”, the slogan he has adopted to describe his goal of national rejuvenation and growing wealth.

Experts said the comment was no different from his previous remarks on democracy in China, and suggested Abbott had misunderstood. Xi has dismissed western-style political changes and suggested this year that adopting foreign political systems would not fit and might lead to “catastrophic” consequences.

Xi said during the parliamentary address in Canberra that the Chinese dream was about enhancing the strength and the prosperity of the country, and the wellbeing of its people.

“We have set two goals for China’s future development,” he said. “The first is to double the 2010 GDP and per-capita income of urban and rural residents and build a society of initial prosperity in all respects by 2020. The second is to turn China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious by the middle of the century.”

The Australian prime minister referred to Xi’s democracy comment at a state dinner held to mark the president’s visit. “I have never heard a Chinese leader declare that his country would be fully democratic by 2050,” Abbott said on Monday night. “I have never heard a Chinese leader commit so explicitly to a rule-based international order founded on the principle that we should all treat others as we would be treated ourselves,” he said. “I thank you, Mr President, for this historic, historic statement which I hope will echo right around the world.”

That response startled China-watchers. “There is nothing new in what the Chinese president has said. What’s important is actually the concept of a ‘modern socialist country’: it’s a country run by one party, the Communist party,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, an expert on Chinese politics at Hong Kong Baptist University. “I’m afraid Abbott has been a bit too optimistic … He seemed a bit overwhelmed having so many heavyweights around him.”

While it might be argued that Abbott was suggesting Xi should be held to his use of the word democracy, “I don’t think that was his intention,” Cabestan added.

Beijing has shown no willingness to compromise with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Demonstrators there say China’s pledge of universal suffrage for the election of the region’s next chief executive is meaningless – though it goes far beyond any choice offered to mainland residents – because only a few, carefully selected candidates will be allowed to stand.

Steve Tsang of Nottingham University said: “Mr Abbott has clearly got carried away in projecting his own understanding of democracy and rule of law to what he heard from President Xi. What President Xi referred to could be seen as ‘democracy with Chinese characteristics’ and ‘rule of law with Chinese characteristics’.”

That would mean a Leninist system in which the party takes the lead in consulting and shaping public opinion to ensure support for the party’s policies; and a system of law “led, guided and protected by the Communist party, which is in the process of being rectified so that it will function effectively as a Leninist instrument of control”.

In his speech to the Australian parliament, Xi said China wanted to “promote the rule of law in an all-round way, stay committed to socialism with Chinese features, advance the modernisation drive and steadily improve people’s lives”.

One Australia-based Asia watcher, Prof Andrew MacIntyre, said: “The prime minister – like many other Australians who heard President Xi’s speech – was impressed by its themes and declared commitment to a long-term relationship.”

MacIntyre, the RMIT University’s deputy vice-chancellor international, added: “On the specific issue of Xi’s meaning of the word democracy, it is highly likely that Xi had something more limited in mind.”

On Monday the two leaders agree on terms for a new free trade agreement between Canberra and Beijing. Xi did not return to the subject of democracy in his remarks during the state dinner. The major theme of Xi’s speech to parliament concerned China’s posture in the region. The president used his address in Australia to assert China’s dominant position in the Asia-Pacific while assuring its neighbours and the US that it would seek to resolve disputes peacefully.

In 2011, the US president, Barack Obama, used the forum of the Australian parliament and a special sitting to unveil his administration’s “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific region.