Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan Sunday accused the opposition of running a "reds-under-the-beds scare campaign" against Rio Tinto's proposed 19.5 billion US dollar tie-up with China's Chinalco.
Conservative opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull last week spoke out against the deal, saying it would give Beijing access to vital data relating to the debt-laden mining giant's production, costs, pricing and marketing.
Turnbull said China should privatise the state-owned Chinalco if it wanted the deal to go ahead.
In a strongly worded riposte Swan, who has the final say on whether the deal proceeds, called Turnbull "irresponsible" and accused him of trying to score political points.
"Mr. Turnbull is simply running a reds-under-the-bed scare campaign," he told ABC television.
Swan said Turnbull did not have the information to make a judgement on the proposal, which would see Chinalco double its stake in Rio to 18 percent.
"I will make a decision in the national interest (and) I can't speculate about the outcome of that," he said.
"But what I can say is the way Mr. Turnbull went about this … is utterly irresponsible, trying to score opportunistic political points at the most important trade relationship we have — the relationship with China."
Turnbull reiterated his concerns Sunday about the links between Chinalco and China's ruling communist party.
"The senior executives of Chinalco are appointed by the central organising committee of the Communist Party of China," he told reporters.
"For Mr. Swan to politicise them and trivialise them shows us he is not taking his responsibilities of defending Australia's national interests seriously."
Under the deal, which would be Beijing's largest-ever foreign investment, Chinalco will take two seats on the Rio board and stakes in its aluminium, bauxite, copper and iron ore projects.
The proposal has come under intense fire in Australia, amid increasing sensitivity about China's quest to secure a firmer hold on natural resources to ensure supplies of the raw materials needed for its industrial expansion.
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