China slams Australian Government for politicising trade over decision to block Probuild sale to Chinese company
WedWednesday 13
China s Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian fiercly criticised Australia s trade decision.
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China s government has slammed Australia s decision to block a Chinese company s $300 million bid for the Australian construction firm Probuild, accusing the Federal Government of further undermining trust between the two countries.
Key points:
Australia has not confirmed it blocked China State Construction Engineering Corporation s bid
Last year, the US government listed the corporation as a Chinese military company
Earlier this week, Probuild announced that state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corporation had withdrawn its offer after being told the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg would block the sale on national security grounds.
Labor MP Ed Husic says the federal government – when engaging with China – must make sure it is open and transparent about the way in which decisions in the national interest will be carried out.
His comments come after China accused Australia of weaponizing national security after Treasurer Josh Frydenberg blocked the sale of Australia-based company Probuild to state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corporation.
“We have flagged for some time that as a nation we’ll be taking a closer look at foreign investment proposals,” Mr Husic told Sky News.
“That has been on the books for a while, and it’s got to be managed carefully.”
Mr Husic said the “whole thing” overall in relation to Australia’s relationship with China is the government needs to ensure the moves it makes are “quite open and transparent”.
“Otherwise we’ve obviously provoked the type of reactions that we get,” he said.
“Having said that, we are a sovereign nation entitled to m
China-blocked Probuild to take over two Grocon projects
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Tier-one builder Probuild, the target of a $300 million takeover offer from a major Chinese construction company that was blocked by the Treasurer this week, snapped up two major projects from the collapsed Grocon group.
Grocon administrators KordaMentha said on Wednesday, after taking charge of three more failed Grocon entities, that they had signed a heads of agreement with Probuild to take over construction of Grocon s $116 million Northumberland office project in inner Melbourne.
Probuild will take over the Northumberland office project from Grocon.
Simon Schluter
The Collingwood project is being funded by the Liberman family-backed Impact Investment Group, which is due to acquire the significantly delayed and over-budget project on completion for one of its funds.
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The federal government secretly rejected a Chinese power giant s proposed involvement in building a new $300 million gas power plant in NSW.
The revelation sheds further light on the government s crackdown to restrict Chinese foreign investment, construction activity and supply chain involvement in Australia.
It emerged this week that Treasurer Josh Frydenberg acted on national security concerns to reject a $300 million takeover of building contractor Probuild by China s largest construction company, state-owned China State Construction Engineering.
The existing Tallawarra generator. A large Chinese power generator was a leading bidder on the Energy Australia tender to construct a new gas power plant on the site.