Vice-President Joe Biden talks of US-Australia 'possibilities' at Boeing plant

"He looked at me and said, 'Can you define for me America?'," the US Vice-President told several hundred workers gathered on Monday in Port Melbourne in the cafeteria of a local factory for US aircraft giant Boeing.

Nestled in the industrial canyons beneath the West Gate Bridge, the factory is the largest Boeing facility outside the US, employing about 1200 Victorians to manufacture wing flaps for the 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

"I could have said the same thing if he asked me about Australia," Mr Biden said, continuing his story about Mr Xi.

"I said, 'Yes, I can. I can define it in one word.' "

One word, he said again.

"Possibilities."

Mr Biden calls himself an irrepressible optimist, and for all the talk of Washington's growing strategic rivalry with Beijing, he said he wants China to prosper.

Bigger economies will buy more products, he said – those stamped "Made in Australia" or "Made in America".

He stressed themes of free trade and innovation, messages Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has also sought to embrace, and promised more investment in high-tech, high-skilled industry between the US and Australia.

The wing flaps are assembled at the Port Melbourne factory – in part by robot arms gliding along tracks – before they are shipped toplants in America.

Boeing Australia's Maureen Dougherty said the company had forecast overall sales of 39,620 aircraft in the next 20 years.

Although Mr Biden's two days in Melbourne before leaving for Sydney were tightly programmed – he took no media questions – and heavy with security protection, he wanted to bring the "possibilities" home to people.

"Folks, all politics is personal, including foreign policy," he said.

"You've got to know the other guy's motive, know what his limitations are and you've got to know what his interests are in order to determine your own."