So says Glen Norris at The Courier Mail:
Australia continues to reach back into its dark past in its attitude to Chinese investment.
A recent series of Federal Government decisions against Chinese investment culminated with Treasurer Scott Morrison’s blocking of two Chinese bids for the NSW electricity network Ausgrid.
The decision was based on assertions of national security, even though the bidders – Cheung Kong Infrastructure and State Grid – already own substantial electricity assets in Australia.
Such decisions are returning us to a xenophobic past at a time when we should be reaching out for more investment from our biggest trading partner.
The political debate unfolding on Chinese investment is lazy and short- sighted. There has never been a problem with British or US capital investing in Australia.
Well, err, they were Australian strategic allies, right? So are Japan and other south eastern Asian nations.
For a chap throwing around allegations of ‘laziness and short-sightedness’ in a stunning 360 word article, there are some bold claims here. Australians have every right to ask whether various types of Chinese investment is in their national interest given:
- China is showing zero signs of reforming towards democracy (the opposite in fact);
- China is explicitly outside of Australia’s current strategic alliance matrix (which doesn’t mean it can’t become part of it);
- and China is an obvious threat to the Great Power hegemony in the region governed by the US.
Or are all of those questions too lazy and short-sighted?
The truth is, a desperately needed debate around foreign investment is being bifurcated and destroyed by cheap shots about racism. The questions that need to be debated include:
- is Chinese investment in existing Australian housing wise given the fallout for future generations, social attitudes and alliance management?
- what kind of Chinese investment should be welcomed and what not given it is not a strategic ally? I would suggest that access to raw materials is good given to close them off tends to result in invasion. Investment in critical infrastructure is problematic given it very likely comes with moral suasion over foreign policy, unless we make an explicit decision to move our foreign and strategic policies towards Chinese engagement.
- investment in existing assets tends to be less useful to the country than investment in new assets though there are exceptions such as agriculture which we are pretty useless at commercialising but that’s a rule that should apply to all investment.
Above all, throw out anyone carrying a placard with “racist” written on it.
