There's a bit more to it than that. True - the fact that profit is going offshore is no different to any other business that is owned by multinational companies. But the difference here is that the Chinese companies that are buying into our resources are all, without exception, owned and controlled by the Chinese government. This cannot be said for any other significant investor or group of investors in Australia.
Where the potential problem lies is that the Chinese Government has already demonstrated that they are more than willing to use their control of a commodity to regulate the market for that commodity to their own political ends. For example, if they gain enough of a foothold in the iron ore supply market, they are likely to drive down the price of iron ore supplied to their own steel mills, while at the same time, forcing up the price of iron ore supplied to their competitors.
If you think that this will not happen - look at the world market for rare earth minerals. At present, China is by far the world's largest supplier. The Chinese Government recently announced that they are closing down a number of their rare earth mines, purely to drive up the global price for these minerals to customers outside of China (while continuing to supply their own industry at lower prices).
The only other serious contender to China's dominance of this market is the Mount Weld rare earths project north of Kalgoorlie, which is currently under development and yet to come into production. The Chinese recently attempted to buy out the Australian company which owns this deposit. Fortunately, there was enough of an outcry and it was unlikely in the end that the Australian Government was going to approve the sale, and the Chinese have since withdrawn from this one. Had they gained control, it was likely that the Australian project would have been put "on hold" as part of the Chinese Government's strategic manipulation of the supply and price of these minerals.
It is not only the Chinese Government that is known for such practices - Xstrata did the same in WA when they purchased and shut down the Windimurra Vanadium mine to prop up their other Vanadium operations in South Africa (and there are still people in Australia who believe that Xstrata and its parent, Glencore, should be welcomed as investors in this country).
I have no problem with foreign investment, wherever it comes from. However, we need to be very careful that this investment is not allowed to the detriment of Australian interests. There is a very big difference between resources (particularly strategic ones) being controlled by multi national resource companies, and being controlled by a foreign government, whose agenda may not always be in line with our own interests.
Another one to watch at the moment is the proposed uranium mine at Arkaroola in SA. The third largest shareholder (and major investor) in this project is the Chinese Government - through one of their investment companies which already has a strong presence in the WA iron ore industry.



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