Fears about Chinese investment in Australia naively exaggerate the amount of control the Chinese government has over Chinese corporations, according to an optimistic and controversial new report that seeks to "mythbust" public and media views about how Chinese business operates.

It is not true that all Chinese companies are controlled by the Chinese government, or that a unified "China Inc" carries out strategic goals with the ultimate aim of global domination, according to the report by the Australia-China Relations Institute at UTS.

But its arguments have been rubbished by security expert Peter Jennings from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute as "not credible".

Chinese investment in Australia's property, agriculture, infrastructure and energy sectors has become a highly sensitive political issue, particularly since the 2015 lease of the Port of Darwin to Landbridge, a company with alleged links to the Chinese military, sparked an overhaul of the Foreign Investment Review Board's operations.