W Australia says doors are open for investment

Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett said on Tuesday that “doors are open” to investment from China, the state's largest trading partner.

His remarks came days after he kicked off a visit to China in a bid to lure new investment to revive Western Australia's troubled Oakajee Port and Rail development.

“Chinese investors are becoming more careful and I think it is a good thing,” Barnett told reporters in Beijing. “But Chinese investment is still increasing.”

The Chinese government was targeted as a major potential investor for the proposed $6 billion development.

The project will build a rail network to connect mines to a new deep-water port at Oakajee, north of Geraldton. The plan was shelved last year after Japanese backer Mitsubishi scaled back funding.

Barnett hailed Western Australia's cooperation with Chinese State-owned enterprises over the past two decades, saying these “good business partners” have invested a large amount of money there.

“Whoever wins the next federal election, I would hope they would relax rules on foreign investments by State-owned enterprises,” said Barnett. Australia will hold a general election in September.

About 80 percent of investment by China's State-owned enterprises in Australia is in Western Australia, and 66 percent of Australia's total exports to China are from this state with a population of just 2 million.

Barnett said he was told by many Chinese officials that priority was given to the so-called rebalancing of Chinese economy – not so rapid growth but a concentration on improving the environment, and particularly air quality.