Abstract
The rise of state capitalism poses profound questions for Australia. Long a beneficiary of China’s hunger for security of supply in natural resources, the country now finds itself increasingly as an investment target and source of business opportunities in sectors as diverse as telecommunications, natural resources and agriculture. As a consequence, elements of Australia’s legal and policy framework are coming under pressure. In particular, the operation of the Foreign Investment Review Board, created as a consequence of the Foreign Acquisition and Takeovers Act (1975), has now become a source of domestic political contestation. This paper explores the implications through the lens of the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper consultation process. It argues that ongoing ambiguity has the potential to undermine the cogency and coherence of the underpinning legal and policy framework. If unresolved it risks Australia becoming bypassed by the emergence of a new Southern Silk Road that positions China, in particular, at the centre of an integrated trading hub dominated by state capitalism.
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