Beijing may shun Australia

Agence France-Presse

refid:11815607 ilişkili resim dosyası

Rio hailed Chinalco - Beijing's wholly-owned aluminum manufacturer - as a white knight when it offered $19.5 billion for an increased stake in the debt-laden miner last February, while the global slump was at its worst.

Yet as soon as commodities markets picked up, Rio dumped Chinalco and cut a deal with BHP to create an iron ore joint venture in Western Australia's Pilbara region worth an estimated $113 billion.

Bell Potter Securities client adviser Chris Kimber said China would be seething at missing out on a deal it viewed as an important part of its goal to guarantee long-term resource supplies.

"They're going to find this very frustrating because the reason they bid for Rio in the first place was because they were worried about their supply," he said.

"This is going to put them back in the same position they were in before." China also faced a bruising campaign against its Rio bid from Australian rights activists and some politicians that used evocative images such as the Tiananmen crackdown to oppose selling assets to a "brutal military regime".

Also, reports say Beijing may see another deal go sour if miner OZ Minerals accepts a last-minute recapitalization proposal rather than proceed with a plan to sell most of its assets to China's Minmetals.

Little wonder that West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said China felt "unwelcome and unloved" in Australia. Barnett said he would visit China in a bid to reassure its leaders that their investments remained welcome.