The ‘National Interest’, and Australian and Chinese Investment Law and Policy

The economic relationship between Australia and China has intensified since 2000. China is now Australia's largest trading partner (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade [DFAT], 2014a). Since 2006, Chinese investment in Australia has grown substantially and continues to be strong (KPMG & The University of Sydney China Studies Centre, 2014). In 2005, the Australian government announced that it would commence negotiations with China over a free trade agreement (FTA), the scope of which would include not only reduction of tariff and behind-the-border barriers, but also the implementation of measures designed to encourage foreign investment between the two countries (DFAT, 2014a). The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) was finally concluded in November 2015 (DFAT, 2014a). Since 2005, both countries have made significant changes to their investment policies. China has opened up more areas of investment to foreign investors and imposed an additional layer of scrutiny of inbound foreign direct investment (FDI) in the name of national security (Bath, 2012), while at the same time encouraged its enterprises, both state-owned and private, to invest abroad. In Australia, changes to the Foreign Investment Policy, since 2005 (Treasurer, 2013), have made investment in Australia easier for certain investors by lifting the thresholds above which a notification of proposed investments must be made to the Treasurer, while at the same time imposing screening requirements on investments by foreign government entities and state-owned enterprises (SOEs). In Australia, the national debate on foreign investment has intensified, particularly in relation to investment in agricultural land (Keogh, 2013)…