CHINALCO president Xiong Weiping is ready to plunge back into new Australian resource investments, even as he obliquely criticised Australia's investment climate and the integrity of Rio Tinto.
His upbeat comments followed a meeting with Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett, who is urging a re-think of how Australia relates to China and pledged yesterday to personally give Chinese investors "special attention" to overcome investment hurdles. Mr Xiong said he was "very encouraged" by Mr Barnett's overtures. "We will actively discuss exploration and exploitation of non-ferrous metal resources in WA," Mr Xiong said at a high-level investment conference sponsored by the Australia China Business Council in Beijing.
"Australia is abundant with resources, its economy runs well, its investment environment is stable and it has geographical advantages," Mr Xiong said. "All these make Australia an ideal place for investment."
Mr Xiong said Chinalco would discuss investing either on its own or in joint ventures. He was also keen to co-operate with Australia in the development of clean coal, carbon dioxide capture and sustainable development technology.
In an apparent swipe at his erstwhile investment partner, Rio Tinto, Mr Xiong said Chinalco was a "principled and trustworthy company". He said Chinese companies hoped for "national treatment", reflecting a widespread Chinese perception of Australian Government discrimination.
While many in China blame Australia for Chinalco's $US19.5 billion non-investment in Rio Tinto, Chinalco has been under pressure from the Chinese bureaucracy for misjudging and mismanaging the political and commercial risks.
In a rare public outing, the gatekeeper of China's outbound investment confirmed he would now be taking a more active pre-vetting role.
"The National Development and Reform Commission hopes they could inform us before negotiating, signing or making contracts about what they want to do," said Kong Linglong, director of the commission's Utilising Foreign Funds and Overseas Investments bureau, on the conference sidelines.
"This is not to approve or disapprove, but we should know whether there are many companies at one place at the same time," he said.
Mr Kong linked the new procedures to the deluge of Chinese investments in Australia this year.
"Many companies rush like a swarm of bees," he said. "So, for them, co-ordination is needed because it's not clear who has gone and who hasn't.
"When Australians say why there are so many [Chinese companies] coming, it's obvious that there was no consultation among enterprises and no co-ordination," he said.
Other Chinese executives at yesterday's investment conference were uncharacteristically forthright about their demands for Australia.
Zou Weimin, chairman of MCC Overseas Ltd, urged both the Western Australian and Commonwealth governments to "streamline" investment procedures and to accept Chinese technicians to work on the Australian projects. "There is a shortage of human resources in Australia," Mr Zou said.
But Jiao Jian, deputy director of Minmetals Nonferrous Metals Industry and Trade Co, said his company had enjoyed the support of the Australian Government.
And China Development Bank deputy governor Li Jiping said his bank would play an even "more active role" in helping Chinese companies investing abroad.
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