Davos, Switzerland | Chinese chief executives are increasingly pinning their hopes on Australia and have abandoned the US as a pillar of their corporate growth strategy, according to a survey of more than 1300 global CEOs released by PwC on Tuesday (AEDT).

After a year of rising trade tensions and slower Chinese growth, only 17 per cent of Chinese CEOs now said the US was one of the most important markets for their growth prospects – sharply down from 59 per cent in 2018 – while Australia was rated as pivotal by 21 per cent of Chinese bosses, the largest single percentage of any country.