Contents
Foreword.................................................................03
Overview.................................................................04
Demographics.........................................................14
Infrastructure...........................................................22
Banking....................................................................34
Energy and Natural Resources................................44
Contacts..................................................................55

Foreword
China’s economic growth is creating exceptional opportunities for greater engagement between Australian and Chinese public and private organisations. Identifying and capitalising on these opportunities may not be easy, but doing so successfully is likely to produce extraordinary rewards. The strategic partnerships that arise from greater engagement between the two nations are likely to determine our prosperity in the decades ahead.
Australia & China: Future Partnerships is the first result of a strategic cooperation between KPMG Australia and the University of Sydney China Studies Centre to create unique business intelligence reports for engaging with China.
Our report provides insights into the long-term demographic and social forces reshaping China and Australia. It analyses the implications of China’s 12th Five Year Plan for Australian-Chinese economic cooperation. It identifies the drivers of future alliances and importantly, focuses on opportunities for stronger engagement in the priority areas of infrastructure, banking, and energy and natural resources.
Our analysis yields a clear conclusion: that a new approach to engaging with China is required.
China’s enduring interest in securing the supply of resources offers new opportunities for the sector beyond the mere export of raw materials, such as joint ventures, jointly financed projects, joint investment in third countries and Asian commodity trading. However, we must continue to broaden our trade and investment relationship to encompass other key areas of strategic interest to China. Education, finance and corporate services are among the sectors where opportunities are growing for Australian organisations as China’s economy matures.
This new engagement involves governments and corporate players and questions of reciprocity. Australia’s corporate sector will have to find a consensus on how to best absorb increasing flows of inbound Chinese capital. In turn, Chinese regulators and investors will have to clarify their corporate structures, ownership and strategic allegiances. These efforts require skilled intermediaries and experts in corporate and financial services who are firmly established in both economies.
Getting our China strategy right is essential for Australia’s future growth. We are proud to share with you our inaugural joint perspective on expanding and deepening the Australia-China business relationship.