The Lowy Institute, an independent think tank based in Sydney, Australia, contributes this look at China's surging investment into Australia's resources sector.

Australia’s foreign investment regime is once again the subject of controversy. In the past, high profile bids by Shell for Woodside (in 2001, blocked by then Treasurer Peter Costello) and by Xstrata for WMC Resources (in 2005, approved by Treasurer Costello with conditions) have attracted a great deal of controversy. This year, Treasurer Wayne Swan has been grappling with a surge of Chinese investment into the Australian resources sector. Meanwhile, a general protectionist drift in global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy has emerged at the international level.

To read more about this, please see the entire briefing, posted at the Lowy Institute (here).