Aug 3, 2026 – 5.00amA Sunday evening gathering on the front lawn of a Cottesloe mansion is hardly an obvious place for the biggest industrial contest in global mining to be unfolding. But this was no ordinary mansion, but one owned by Fortescue executive chairman Andrew Forrest. And it was no ordinary cocktail party, but one heaving with Chinese business heavyweights and Australian political figures ahead of the Boao Forum in Perth, a high-level conference for meant to promote closer ties across Asia.Among those in the crowd was Yang Dongsheng, the chairman of Chinese heavy machinery giant XCMG. He had just heard the pitch from West Australian Premier Roger Cook, who had told the party that the resource-heavy state had serious ambitions to decarbonise the industry.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Jessica SierNorth Asia correspondentJessica Sier is the North Asia correspondent for The Australian Financial Review. She is based in Tokyo, Japan. Jessica has previously written on technology, global capital markets and economics.Tom RabePolitical correspondentTom Rabe is the Western Australia political correspondent, based in Perth.Fetching latest articles