China not a threat: Australia

Talking Trade – “Australia is very open to Chinese investment”

In recent times eyebrows had been raised regarding the level of investment by Chinese firms into Australia.

As Ambassador Raby explained, at the end of 2007 the total stock of Chinese investment into Australia was only A$670 million though in the last 18 months over A$30 billion worth of Chinese investment had been approved.

Attracting attention had been several high profile mineral sector deals such as that by Chinalco seeking to acquire a stake in the iron ore giant Rio Tinto.

Chinalco is seeking a $25 billion purchase of 18 per cent of the company in what the Canberra Times is calling, “China's largest overseas deal.”

If it goes ahead it would make Chinalco Rio Tinto's ‘dominant shareholder and guarantee it two board seats’.

A decision by the Australian government has yet to be announced.