On the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday held bilateral talks with his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull.
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“China has more freedom to invest in Australia, indeed all foreigners have more freedom to invest in Australia, than in nearly any other country”.
Ties with China, Australia’s largest trading partner, would get closer and closer, insisting its rise was welcomed and embraced.
Malcolm Turnbull has arrived in China ahead of a G20 summit focused on kick starting economic growth in the shadow of a slowdown and rising security concerns.
In the address, Turnbull said strong cooperation was needed between business and government to make sure corporations paid their fair share of tax.
Prime Minister Modi also sought the support of Mr Turnbull in encouraging the Australian pension funds to invest in India.
‘In the aftermath of the decision taken by the European Union against Apple’s worldwide tax liabilities, as well as the revelations within the Panama Papers, now is the time for an effective Australian multinational tax strategy, ‘ the shadow assistant treasurer said.
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg insists the door remains open to Chinese investment.
“We’ve had a very open door”, he told ABC radio.
Mr Turnbull urged G20 leaders to fight to keep their markets open to trade, using Australia as an example of where trade has helped the economy to continuously grow.
But it was also a sovereign nation entitled to make decisions around its national security.
But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, while supporting the treasurer’s decision on Ausgrid, criticised how long it took to be made.
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“If we were going to say that these assets were off limits for state-owned enterprises to purchase, we probably could’ve done it a lot earlier than we did”, he told reporters in Melbourne.
