Well yes, Rio Tonto is a major mining company and allowing Chinalco to go ahead with this deal gives them majority ownership. As this company is very important to Australia's economy, in the long term it isn't wise to just sell it for short term gain.
Just saying this is something that all nations should do, and do very often, you always have to expect a certain level of protectionism in international commerce.
-not majority ownership, deal would have doubled Chinalco's Rio stake to 18% from 9%.
-it would secure for Chinalco a source of raw material in return for investing $7.2 billion in convertible bonds and $12.3 billion in Rio Tinto iron ore, copper and aluminum stakes
-and reduce the heavy debt load of the world's third-biggest mining company.
-you are right that there is always some level ofprotectionism and xenophobia towards foriegners in most countries,
-when the sale of aus second-biggest telecommunications company Optus to singapore government controlled SINGAPORE Telecommunications went through there was some nasty outcry too
-anyway, we don't want to anger the chinese too much, our mining industry and overall economy benifitted greatly from the chinese economic boom in paast years, good relations with them are vital to our interests.
-even amid the global downturn, sales of goods and commodities to China increased 37% last year.
-but i do anticipate the chinese investing more of their cash to brazil now and other countries to help build their undeveloped mines
-anyway, we got other problems to deal with at the moment like the indians repeatedly badmouthing us in their press after the racist attacks on foreign students in oz and the h1n1 flu crisis
