For years, Australians have watched in helpless fury as more and more of the Aussie “farm” was sold off to China-based entities. From wineries to Australia’s oldest company, from strategic ports to entire islands, China has been gobbling up more of Australia’s land and critical infrastructure, while successive governments did nothing – or, worse, encouraged the sell-off.
On the heels of first the Wuhan plague and then Beijing’s attempt to bully Australia into compliance, the public mood has become volcanic. Grass-roots “boycott China” movements have proliferated. More importantly, the Morrison government has taken the first, tentative steps to reign in the Silent Invasion of Australia.
One of its most important initiatives is the reform of foreign investment rules. Finally, Chinese state-owned corporate raiders are getting a well-deserved whack on the nose.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has rejected a takeover bid for one of Australia’s largest builders from a Chinese government controlled company over concerns it could give foreign intelligence services access to information about the nation’s critical infrastructure.
China State Construction Engineering Corp launched the bid last year for a major stake in Probuild, the Australian subsidiary of a South African-owned company, in a deal understood to be worth more than $200 million.
The decision was based on concerns about a Chinese government controlled conglomerate holding contracts with government agencies and critical infrastructure service providers.
The deal required the approval of both the Treasurer and the Foreign Investment Review Board.
For decades, the Foreign Investment Review Board has been a rubber-stamp for greedy, unconscionable businesses and rapacious Chinese investors. The Morrison government is starting to wrest back some control.
Government and industry sources confirmed the Treasurer had contacted both parties late last year to inform them he would not be approving the deal.
The companies withdrew the bid before it was formally knocked back by the FIRB.
The decision, first reported by The Australian Financial Review, risks further inflaming tensions between Canberra and Beijing after relations between the two countries descended to their worst levels in decades in 2020.
Like all bullies, Beijing really hates it when smaller countries stand up to them.
FIRB’s guidance to the industry points out that construction firms often hold contracts with government agencies and providers of critical infrastructure. It notes that commercial construction firms that develop assets for these clients might have significant access to sensitive information, such as building blueprints and supply chains.
“Such information may be of value to foreign intelligence services,” the FIRB says.
“Foreign intelligence services may also pre-position for future intelligence activities – such as by building surveillance equipment into the premises during construction, in order to gather information on intended sensitive tenants.”
The Age
This is not just Cold War paranoia. A little birdie has whispered to me that renovators of certain buildings in Canberra found the walls honeycombed with listening devices and other spy equipment.
You wouldn’t trust China with your 5G; don’t trust them to build your office complexes.
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