Treasurer warns Australian businesses to diversify away from China

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg warns Australian businesses must diversify away from a more aggressive China.

Mr Frydenberg will tell the ANU Crawford Leadership Forum today – companies need to become more resilient to Beijing's economic coercion.

He's launching a new national strategy dubbed "China-plus", which encourages business leaders to invest in other markets, cyber security, and secure supply chains.

The Asian nation's trade sanctions have devastated Australian wine, seafood coal and barley exports.

It's share of global GDP is expected to reach almost 20 percent this year – up from 7.7 per cent 20 years ago.

Mr Frydenberg admits while the rise of China has helped lift more than 800 million people out of poverty – "it has also been defined by another feature. A more confident and ­assertive China. A China that is willing to use its economic weight as a source of political pressure".

It offers economic 'carrots' through initiatives such as the Belt and Road and it threatens economic consequences for perceived misdeeds."

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