Rio Tinto chairman Jan Du Plessis says he can’t see European leaders coming up with a sustainable solution to the region’s financial problems.

“It’s very hard to see any solution that is truly sustainable over the long term,” Mr Du Plessis told a business function in Sydney on Friday.

World leaders have gathered in France for this weekend’s G20 summit, where US President Barack Obama has implored European leaders to swiftly work out a Eurozone plan to deal with the continent’s crisis.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s call this week for a referendum on a bailout plan hatched last week has set the process back.

Mr Papandreou has since abandoned the referendum.

Mr Du Plessis said he believed China’s debt levels were much more manageable than Europe’s major economies, and the Asian power would be resilient to any global economic shocks ahead.

There were risks to Rio Tinto and the Australian economy because of a heavy reliance on China, but that reliance didn’t bother Mr Du Plessis, he told the function.

However he did express some trepidation about regulation being introduced by the federal government, such as the carbon tax and the Minerals Resources Rent Tax (MRRT).

“If you go to other capital cities in the world, they do look at Australia with a little more apprehension than they used to,” he said.

Rio Tinto will continue to invest heavily in Australia because the company has tremendous faith in the country, Mr Du Plessis added.