SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA on Wednesday told China it must get used to dealing with shareholders, as the Asian giant comes to terms with its failure to secure a US$19.5 billion (S$28.4 billion) tie-up with mining giant Rio Tinto.

Trade Minister Simon Crean said a revolt by Rio Tinto shareholders effectively scuppered the deal with Chinalco, suggesting it was 'an eye-opener for the Chinese and their state-owned enterprises'.

While official Chinese media have put the deal's failure down to Australian 'prejudice' and questioned Canberra's involvement in the decision, Mr Crean said it had nothing to do with the government.

He said it showed shareholders had real power and the sooner Chinese entities with only one shareholder - the government in Beijing - understood the fact, they would be better equipped to deal with the Australian market.

'These are issues that are not just questions of national interest and foreign investment review board considerations (by government), they also involve important considerations by shareholders,' he told reporters. 'I actually think it's going to be an important learning curve for China.'

Rio Tinto earlier this month snubbed an offer from Chinalco, opting instead to reduce its debts through a rights issue and an iron ore joint venture in Western Australia with former rival BHP Billiton.

Rio needed shareholder approval to finalise its deal with Chinalco, which was announced in February. But the stockholders expressed anger that the miner failed to consult them before cutting a deal with Chinalco and argued that a recovery in commodity prices since February meant that the arrangement now offered poor value.

Beijing this week said it may undertake an anti-monopoly review on the BHP-Rio joint venture because Chinese iron ore buyers were concerned it would impact on global supply of the commodity.

Mr Crean dismissed the suggestion, saying the two companies were simply sharing infrastructure in their West Australian iron ore mines.

'It's important to understand that the proposal that Rio and BHP have entered is to share facilities and to try and get efficiency and therefore costs down from those shared facilities,' he said. 'They will still operate as separate marketing arms - they will therefore be competitors and so there won't be any lessening of competition.' -- AFP