Australia and China celebrated the 35th anniversary of official ties between the two countries this month. It was in December 1972 when the government of prime minister Gough Whitlam decided to end Australia's hostility towards communist China - which at the time seemed culturally alien and politically dangerous. Everyone was talking about Japan and the United States, not China. Many Australians were uneasy that American companies were 'buying up the farm'. US resource and energy companies looked hungrily across the Pacific at Australia's vast, untapped mineral and energy riches and decided they wanted a piece of the action. With the Americans came the Japanese, who brought up huge tracts of coastal land in Australia and large swathes of city downtowns. Australians liked the foreigners' money and their investments, but they worried that they were repatriating profits offshore. No groups in Australian society were more miffed by US and Japanese investments than the trade union movement and leftist academic writers. In the 1970s and early 1980s, there were scores of books, pamphlets, television and radio debates about the evil of foreign ownership of Australia's economic resources. Politicians eager to placate community unrest on the issue encouraged consumers to support 'Buy Australian' campaigns. Unease about foreign ownership also manifested itself in Australian popular culture. One of the country's most successful rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s, Cold Chisel, belted out a line about the Japanese, 'buying our beaches; sellin' transistors; them little folk look real big'. But these days, when Australians discuss Chinese investment, their tone is more relaxed than the strident, edgy discontent that was directed towards the Americans and the Japanese all those years ago. Why? Well, for one, China might well be Australia's economic protector. Because of China's continuing strong demand for Australian exports, many Australian economists think the local economy will be shielded from an American recession if one eventuates in the new year. And China is benefitting from the fact that most Australians still view it benignly - Australians rate China a lower threat than the US, according to most polls. The reaction to recent news stories about potential Chinese ownership of Australian assets illustrates this point. When it was rumoured this month that Chinese interests might step in to counter Australian resources icon BHP Billiton's bid for mining giant Rio Tinto, the reaction in the tabloid media and talk-back radio was muted. Mike Smith, the chief executive of ANZ Bank, one of Australia's largest, has been talking up the idea that a Chinese bank might seek to buy an Australian one in the not-too-distant future. Again, Mr Smith is not being howled down by protesters. But China should not take the current Australian mindset for granted, because it is about to face its severest test. The New South Wales state government has announced it is selling off its power stations. The champagne glasses were clinking in Beijing and Canberra earlier this month as diplomats and politicians toasted their 35-year friendship. At the same time, opposition politicians and trade unions in New South Wales were accusing the government of lying about the purpose of a visit by a Chinese government delegation to a power station. The government said they toured the station, south of Sydney, to look at clean-fuel technologies. But the government's opponents say the real reason is that the Chinese are looking to buy power assets. In other words, get ready for Australia's first large-scale, anti-Chinese-investment campaign. Greg Barns is a political commentator in Australia and a former Australian government adviser
