Looked at from China’s perspective, Australia accounts for an even smaller share of its total offshore investment – less than one quarter of one per cent. Furthermore, this share has not changed much in recent years suggesting that China’s investment in Australia has grown in line with its accumulation of foreign assets globally.
This would indicate that China does not have a particularly strong bias towards Australian investments. The ABS figures probably understate the true level of Chinese investment in Australia, because they do not identify as Chinese any investment from China that was channelled through custodial accounts held in third countries (typically those in major financial centres like London).