Forrest’s assessment of the security risks of China sits at odds with Australian intelligence services, the defence establishment and the foreign policy position of both Labor and the Coalition, which have warned that China’s military build-up is the biggest seen since the end of World War II.

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In March, China’s Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, warned that if the US did not hit the brakes but continued “to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing and there will surely be conflict and confrontation”.

Forrest dismissed the threat from China and accused politicians and foreign policy analysts of “just trying to scare people”.

“If we’re building subs for protection, that’s great,” he said. “It’s like an insurance policy. We hope we’ll never need them, but I don’t see national security concerns with China. Its demographics and logistics are too ridiculous to even contemplate it.”

Forrest said Li had told him and other chief executives including Apple CEO Tim Cook at a business meeting in Beijing on Monday that he would be relying on the “global investment community to really help China on its path to opening up to a peaceful, shared future for humanity”.

Business leaders in China have been concerned by what they say is growing state control over the private economy as Xi steers through his visions of “internal circulation” and “common prosperity”.

The Chinese government has been attempting to maintain a pro-business outlook at the same time as it tightens controls over any market threats to Communist Party ideology and protects its economy from global sanctions.

Forrest said he did not believe China was any more vigilant about threats to its economic security than the West.

“I don’t think there are behaviours that I don’t see reflected in every other country or what we do in Australia as well as North America,” he said.

Forrest said Beijing, Washington and Canberra needed to put their differences aside to collaborate on climate change.

“We could cook instead. We have got to get cracking. This is way above petty politics,” he said.

“[China] is a country that could really turn the battle against global warming, which is on the precipice of a really efficient manufacturing supply chain, not just for wind, not just solar, not just for electrolysers [related to hydrogen production] but for trucks, trains, ship engines, everything we need to send our world green.”

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