The Australian: Chinese firm sought cheaper iron ore through share deal
“We hate the ore pricing system,” says Australia, “but let’s protect it from those scheming Chinese people. We cannot trust them. And heaven forbid that we make Canada’s mistake and hollow out our ownership of our own assets.” Well, that’s the gist of this article, and frankly, they have a point. If the Chinese can consolidate and control the midwest region of Australia one company at a time, they will make it work with shared infrastructure. That would not work to the national advantage of Australia, but it would require a nationalistic bent to stop it.
Then again, all it would really take to stop this a law that sets royalties differently for companies that are owned more than x percentage from abroad. But even if BHP is headquartered in Australia, is it really still an Australian company? It is like Anglo being a South African—no, wait, English—no, wait, South American company.
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