Excerts from an article in today's Australian,"A report released...

Excerts from an article in today's Australian,

"A report released yesterday by PwC shows Chinese executives are responding to global economic uncertainties and US President Donald Trump’s trade war by reducing their plans to expand in the US — and that they regard Australia as a much more favourable source of future growth.

“Australia has a relatively long history of interest from Chinese companies and we are seen as a stable, predictable and developed market.”

While acknowledging that there are a number of areas where Chinese investors might attract greater scrutiny from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board, Sayers notes Australia is “certainly not a hostile environment for Chinese investors outside of sensitive sectors”.

“The federal government could view this as an opportunity to remind Chinese companies that Australia remains open for business,” Sayers says.

The survey confirms other reports showing a major drop in Chinese investment in the US.

The China Global Investment Tracker has reported Chinese investment in the US fell by a massive 60 per cent last year to $US10.6 billion ($14.9bn).

The Tracker’s latest data noted total Chinese investment and construction projects offshore dropped to $US179bn last year, down from $US280bn in 2017 and $US271bn in 2016.

In Australia, the medical and healthcare industry is the latest sector to attract interest from potential Chinese investors. The latest was this month’s $2bn bid by Beijing-based building materials group Jangho for Australian healthcare company Healius (formerly known as Primary Health Care).

Jangho’s highly conditional bid was rejected by the board but is expected to lead to further talks between the chairman of Jangho, Liu Zaiwang, and Healius chair Rob Hubbard.

The bid was the latest move into Australia by Jangho, which already supplies building materials in Australia and bought the Vision Eye Institute in 2015.