For those lazy here is the article:THE men who are shaping...

For those lazy here is the article:

THE men who are shaping Australia's corporate future took time out from the Olympic Games on Saturday to tuck into some Western Australian rock lobster with Kevin Rudd at the Australian embassy in Beijing. Together, the assets controlled by the men at the table added up to more than Australia's gross domestic product.

The Prime Minister was flanked by Lou Jiwei, president of China's $225 billion sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corporation, and Baosteel's president, Xu Lejiang. Both would like to know whether he will let them buy serious stakes in Australia's three biggest mining companies.
Opposite Rudd was his host, the Australian ambassador Geoff Raby. Next to Raby was Xiao Yaqing, the president of Chinalco, the biggest shareholder in Rio Tinto. Xiao also wants to know whether Rudd will let him make a more full-fronted assault on Rio.

As luck would have it, also seated across the table from Rudd were BHP Billiton's Marius Kloppers, Rio Tinto's Tom Albanese and Fortescue's Andrew Forrest. The first two companies have become global powerhouses on the back of Chinese demand, while China has transformed Twiggy Forrest from a failed corporate maverick into a visionary and Australia's richest man.

The three Australians wanted answers to the same questions: will the Australian Government let the likes of Lou, Xu and Xiao unleash their formidable balance sheets on Australia?

Some of the Chinese corporate minders had arrived at the embassy one hour early to try and muscle their bosses closer to the middle of the table.

The Australians were more relaxed about where they sat. Their minders, perhaps, were concerned about the minutiae of takeover rules that might make any interaction between Albanese and Kloppers a little awkward.

Also at the table was Wang Tianpu, the president of Chinese oil giant Sinopec, one of the world's largest companies. And then there was Huang Tianwen, president of Sinosteel, which wants to turn Western Australia's MidWest region into Australia's next huge iron ore hub. There was also Cao Peixi, president of China Huaneng Power Group, who has his eyes on NSW power generation assets as well as coal and uranium.

Cao was pleased to hear that Australia's uranium is open to Chinese business.

And so the lunch list continued: Woodside's Don Voelte, the Trade Minister, Simon Crean, China Power Investment Corporation's Lu Qizhou and half a dozen other Chinese corporate leaders desperately in need of Australian energy and resources.