Billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has angrily slapped down the suggestion that China is vulnerable to the biggest property and credit bubble collapse in history.

Mr Forrest said China’s rise in the last three decades was the world’s greatest modern economic miracle that had dragged its people out of poverty.

He was asked at the Australia in China’s Century conference by Lindsay David, a co-founder of a green technology company, if Australia’s economy was also at risk of collapsing because it made a very large bet on China’s continued growth.

The comments came as the price of iron ore – Australia’s most valuable export – has fallen to near two-year lows at close to $US95 a tonne.

Mr Forrest said he was comfortable when the price was $US110

There have also been well documented financial issues China’s government is tackling: including deleveraging its economy where invest spending is way above economic output, and its unregulated shadow finance system.

“This country came out of political purgatory with no money and just the shirt off their backs and set their people free,” he said.

“They are hard working, intelligent and determined to raise their children’s living standards more than most countries … 400 million people still have to be urbanised.

“Walmart and other huge consumers rely on China, add to the mix trillions of dollars of foreign reserves, soft power and I would say your bet against China is the only guarantee of loss I’ve seen for a long time.”

He said Australia should make exporting food to China a far greater priority and that Chinese premier Li Keqiang had told him that was “Australia’s most important question”.

He said he did not want to see Australia miss out again, saying that it had missed out on $30-$40 billion in extra foreign revenue during Japan’s economic boom when it had brought Brazil in amid concerns about the reliability of Australian supplies.