Australia’s decision to block the A$10 billion (US$7.68 billion) sale of the country’s biggest energy grid to Chinese bidders was a protectionist move that would negatively affect investment in the country, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said yesterday.
Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison last week said that preferred bidders State Grid Corp of China (國家電網) and Hong Kong’s Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd (長江基建) would be prevented from buying electricity network company Ausgrid, citing unspecified national security concerns.
“This kind of decision is protectionist and seriously impacts the willingness of Chinese companies to invest in Australia,” Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang (沈丹陽) said at a regular news briefing in Beijing. “China hopes Australia will create a fairer and more transparent environment for Chinese investment.”
Shen said China is also concerned with increasing steel-trade protectionism from Europe and would seek to protect the rights of Chinese steel export companies using legal measures.
Australia’s decision to reject the Ausgrid bids underscored the country’s changing political climate since a handful of protectionist Australian senators took power in elections last month.
The decision also sets new parameters to the relationship between Australia and its biggest export partner, that comes just eight months after a A$100 billion free-trade agreement took effect.
Morrison’s decision was the second time this year Canberra has rejected bids for major Australian assets by Chinese interests.
It previously knocked back an offer by a China-led consortium to buy the country’s largest agricultural land owner, cattle company Kidman & Co.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday used a major speech to warn against giving in to the growing protectionist mood reflected in the new parliament, which he said could reverse gains made by the country since it liberalized its economy two decades ago.
“Political responses to this mood of disaffection can have the potential to destabilize global growth, perhaps even reversing some of the spectacular gains we have made over recent decades through open markets and free trade,” he said.
The new parliament, which sits for the first time on Aug. 30, includes a bloc of foreign investment critics led by the far-right One Nation party.
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