Chinese minerals trader Sinosteel’s hostile bid for Australian iron ore miner Midwest has signaled that now Chinese companies are gearing up to take the gloves off and make a more aggressive play for Western corporations.

Mr Huang Tianwen president of Sinosteel said that if Sinosteel failed in its tilt at Midwest that would not stop it from it making similar bids either here or elsewhere. He said "Every company cannot say it will be always 100% successful."

He added that "Even for Sinosteel in this kind of takeover there are two outcomes. For other companies in China, it's the same. Whether it is successful or not, it will not affect Sinosteel in the future."

Mr Huang said that more hostile takeovers in future by Chinese companies would be quite possible and quite normal. On March 14th 2008 Midwest told shareholders to take no action until it had an opportunity to consider the offer.

Sinosteel lodged its bidder statement recently for its USD 1.2 billion hostile tilt at West Australian iron ore hopeful Midwest. Rhe document contained little beyond the confirmation of an all cash bid a basic description of Midwest and Sinosteel's operations and an outline of the risks faced by stock holders. Sinosteel has had a joint exploration agreement with Midwest since 2005 to explore one of its sites, a deposit of haematite at Weld Hills.