RIO Tinto CEO Sam Walsh says he has no concerns about China’s slowing growth, but Australia needs to do more to embrace opportunities with China, India and South East Asia.

Speaking at Melbourne Business School, Walsh said he commonly got asked about whether he worried about the Chinese slowdown.

“In short, no. China’s ‘new normal’ is all about slightly ‘slower but higher quality growth’,” he said.

“Yes, China’s GDP will decline from the double digits of some years ago, and from around 7% this year to on average about 4-5% through to 2030.

“China’s steel intensity will continue to rise and in the rest of the world steel demand will grow 65% over the next 15 years.

Steel industry is a pillar industry of national economy, and it is also a major upstream industry for construction, machiner y, automobile, home appliance, shipbuilding, ardware and transportation industries, affecting all aspects of the national economy. At present, China is at rapid economic development stage, and steel capacity and output have been expanding constantly. It was reported that China’s output of crude steel surged from 221 million mt in 2003 to 619 million mt in 2010.