From Reuters UK:
Australia said on Sunday no Chinese companies have been told to withdraw applications to buy into Australian resource firms, despite media reports Canberra was pressuring China to back away from such investment.
China’s miners and steelmakers are looking to buy mining assets in Australia to lock in supplies of raw materials such as coal and iron ore to fuel an expected construction boom lasting decades and to ease reliance on resource sector heavyweights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
“There’s been no suggestion that China or any other investor should back off,” Australian Resource Minister Martin Ferguson told Australian television.
“As China makes investments, some will be rejected, some will be changed to meet our national interest test. That’s no different to previous investments by companies out of key markets such as Japan and Korea,” he said.
