18
business
Australia moves to calm
China investment fears
SYDNEY: Senior ministers in Australia’s govern-
ment yesterday moved to quell growing fears about
Chinese interest in the nation’s miners, describing
the growing investment as a two-way street.
Chinese state-owned companies have moved
to snap up debt-laden Australian resources firms
in recent months, including a bid from Chinalco
to invest US$19.5 billion (RM73.12 billion) in min-
ing giant Rio Tinto.
Canberra is currently mulling a bid by Minmet-
als for OZ Minerals, after last week giving Hunan
Valin Iron and Steel the green light to increase its
stake in Fortescue Metals Group
to 17.55%.
China’s push for Austral-
ian miners has been met with
political and public unease,
with allegations that the Asian
superpower enjoys too much
influence over the government.
Resources Minister Martin
Ferguson dismissed the com-
mentary as “hysteria without
justification”.
“Tough economic times
obviously cause concern for
people and I understand those
concerns,” said Ferguson.
“But our responsibility as a
government is to do the right
thing by Australia. The gov-
ernment will consider each
application for foreign invest-
ment in Australia on its merits,
irrespective of the source of that
investment.”
Trade Minister Simon Crean
conceded China was a “difficult
regime” with which to work,
but said Australia’s fate was
intertwined with the Asian gi-
ant, which had displaced Japan
as the country’s number one
trading partner.
Aso pledges two million new jobs
in three years
TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Taro
Aso yesterday pledged to create up
to two million new jobs in the next
three years under a new growth
strategy for Asia’s biggest economy.
Aso said by 2020 the plan – which
would boost renewable energy,
elderly care and cultural exports
– would increase gross domestic
product (GDP) by 120 trillion yen
(RM4.5 trillion) and create four mil-
lion new jobs.
Aso, who faces elections later
this year, is preparing a major stimu-
theSun | FRIDAY APRIL 10 2009
“Whilst Chinese investment
in Australia has been growing,
so too has Australian investment
into China,” Crean told Sky
News.
“So this investment question
is not a one-way exercise. It
demonstrates, I think, the grow-
ing interdependency between
our two economies,” he added.
“We have to embrace, not
fear the investment argument.
We have to see the opportunity,
not just look for the threat.”
Crean acknowledged fears
that, under the deals, China
would be both customer and
equity partner, but said the com-
munist regime was “increasingly
understanding that they have to
operate as a market economy”.
“I think it is in the national
interest that we engage far better
with China, we’ve got to do it on
many fronts,” he said.
“It is a difficult regime with
which to work at times. But we
have got to be constructive, we
have got to be open, we have
got to be forceful in terms of
bringingour interests to the
fore.” – AFP
lus package that aims to revive the
economy from its worst post-war
recession.
Outlining the growth plan in a
speech, Aso said: “Over the next
three years, I will create new demand
of 40 to 60 trillion yen (RM150-225
billion) and 1.4 to 2 million jobs.”
“Through brave actions by the
public and private sectors, I believe
it is possible to boost real GDP by
120 trillion yen and create job op-
portunities for four million people in
2020.” – AFP
‘Southeast Asia on
frontline of crisis’
PATTAYA: Southeast Asia is on
the front line of efforts to fight
the global economic crisis and
will be “greatly tested” in com-
ing months, the Thai finance
minister said yesterday ahead
of a key summit.
Korn Chatikavanij told
counterparts from Asean gath-
ered in the Thai beach resort of
Pattaya that the region of 560
million people must show its
strengths as a community.
“Asean is now at the frontier
of an economic battle and re-
covery. We, as a rising regional
grouping, will be greatly tested,”
he told fellow ministers meeting
a day before 15 Asian heads of
state arrive here for talks.
“As the financial crisis
deepens, the world will look
toward our region for action
and confidence. Therefore, we
must show our capacity and
true strengths of Asean as a
community,” Korn said.
The 10-member Southeast
Asian grouping has suffered
briefs
S’pore economy to
contract in 2009
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s
economy will contract more than
expected as its exports continue
to be hit by the global downturn,
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
said yesterday.
He was reported by The Straits
Times online edition as saying
there would be a downward revi-
sion to the government’s forecast
of an economic contraction of
between 2.0 and 5.0% this year.
Export-dependent Singapore
was the first Asian nation to
sink into a recession, when
data released in October last
year showed the economy con-
tracted for two straight quarters
in the period to September. The
economy grew 1.1% in 2008.
Singapore’s worst recession
since independence in 1965
was in 2001 when the economy
shrank 2.4%. – AFP
Airlines sued over
price fixing
SYDNEY: Australia’s competi-
tion watchdog sued Air France-
KLM and two other airlines on
Tuesday over allegations they
were involved in price-fixing.
The Australian Competition
and Consumer Commission,
which has already sued Singa-
pore Airlines, Qantas Airways
and British Airways over the
same allegations, said Air
France-KLM had consented to
pay fines to be determined by
the country’s Federal Court.
The other airlines sued on
Tuesday were Martinair Hol-
land NV (Martinair) and Car-
golux International Airlines.
Regulators have been prob-
ing more than 30 airlines over
badly from a collapse in ex-
ports to major trading partners
such as the United States, Eu-
rope and Japan as the world
economy slows.
Asean leaders will meet
their counterparts from China,
Japan, South Korea, Australia
and New Zealand at the week-
end in Pattaya for talks expected
to focus on their response to a
G20 plan to lift the world out of
recession.
The Group of 20 developed
and emerging economies
agreed at a key meeting in Lon-
don last week to commit US$1
trillion (RM3.75 trillion) to the
International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and other global bodies.
The Pattaya summit will
be followed by a so-called
Global Dialogue in Bangkok
on Sunday featuring United
Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon and the chiefs
of the IMF, World Bank and
World Trade Organisation.
– AFP
the issue, which erupted in
February 2006 when US and
European officials raided air-
lines as part of investigations
into the imposition of fuel
surcharges in international air
cargo. – Reuters
BA mulling Dubai
offer for Concorde
LONDON: A Dubai consortium
is bidding to turn one of Brit-
ish Airways’ seven remaining
Concorde supersonic jets into a
tourist attraction, a report said on
Wednesday, while BA said it was
mulling its options.
The Times said that if the jet
– which reached supersonic
speeds and halved the total flight
time from London to New York
– were to be shipped to the Mid-
dle East, its wings would have to
be clipped off to fit on a ship.
It cited a source close to the
Dubai consortium as saying the
group would spend millions of
pounds to restore the interior of
the plane, which is kept at Lon-
don’s Heathrow Airport. – AFP
US$5b guarantee
for auto suppliers
WASHINGTON: The US Treas-
ury Department on Wednesday
launched a five-billion-dollar
scheme to guarantee product
payments to embattled auto
suppliers that have been ham-
mered by the auto industry
slump and tight credit.
Government-rescued
General Motors and Chrysler
launched the taxpayer-backed
support programmes, the
Treasury said.
Under the Treasury’s auto
supplier support programme
announced in mid-March,
up to US$5 billion taxpayer
dollars will guarantee money
owed to auto suppliers for the
products they ship even if the
US automaker goes bankrupt.
– AFP