SYDNEY, Australia (CU)_A senior government official in Beijing has criticised Australia’s decision to block Chinese company’s $300 million bid for the Australian construction firm Probuild, claiming that such decisions violate “the spirit of the China-Australia free trade agreement”.
Earlier this week, the China State Construction Engineering Corporation withdrew its offer to buy the Australian construction firm after being told that the federal treasurer of Australia, Josh Frydenberg, would block the sale on national security grounds.
Responding to this decision, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian accused the Australian Government of discriminating against Chinese entities.
“This is the latest example of how the Australian government has been politicising trade and investment issues, violating market principles and the spirit of the China-Australia free trade agreement, and imposing discriminatory measures on Chinese companies,” he said, during a press briefing on Tuesday (Jan 12).
The Ministry spokesman added that it was a mistake to politicise normal commercial cooperation in the name of national security, adding that Beijing hopes Canberra would provide a “fair, open and non-discriminatory business environment for foreign companies including Chinese ones”.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government of Australia has not confirmed its decision to block the sale, saying that it does not comment on its way of screening individual foreign investment cases. Nevertheless, experts say that Canberra is concerned the takeover by a foreign state-owned firm might enable intelligence services overseas to gather information about critical infrastructure in Australia.
Probuild, which is an Australian subsidiary of the South African company Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon, is currently constructing the new headquarters for the Victorian Police, as well as the Melbourne headquarters of biotech firm CSL, which is expected to manufacture locally produced COVID-19 vaccines for millions of Australians.
