Australia has urged legislators to take a more cautious approach in backing China's pursuit of "legitimate interests" and stay alert to the motives guiding its investments, in a briefing book published by the nonpartisan parliamentary library.

Authored by government officials and distributed ahead of Tuesday's opening of parliament, the booklet raises concerns that "creating a Eurasia-wide, China-led bloc to counter the United States" is the long-term aim of China's "One Belt, One Road" project, including its investments in northern Australia.

"Some see this initiative as a profound challenge to the current global political and economic status quo," a parliamentary library researcher wrote in the book, designed to guide lawmakers on issues likely to come before them.