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Australia has denounced the agreements between the China Belt and Road Initiative and the state government of Victoria, in a move that could further weaken ties between the two nations.
The Australian federal government has deleted both the Memorandum of Understanding and the Framework Agreement between Victoria and China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in an emailed statement Wednesday. Two other deals between Victoria and the governments of Iran and Syria have also been dropped.
“I consider these four schemes to be in violation of Australia’s foreign policy or in violation of our foreign relations,” said Payne.
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The bans are the first laws passed by the national parliament in December that allow the Secretary of State to authorize new and previously signed agreements between overseas governments and Australia’s eight states and territories, as well as with agencies such as local authorities. and universities.
Payne’s move could further deteriorate ties between Australia and its largest trading partner, which has been in free fall for a year after the government called for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus. Beijing has since taken a series of trade revenues, including imposing crippling tariffs on Australian barley and wine, while blocking coal transport.
The move “is another unreasonable and provocative action by the Australian side against China,” the Chinese embassy in Canberra said in an emailed statement. “It further shows that the Australian government is not sincere in improving relations between China and Australia – it will undoubtedly cause further damage to bilateral relations, and will ultimately only hurt itself.”
No thaw
The announcement came the same day by a Chinese diplomat indicated that the ties between Beijing and Canberra will not immediately unfreeze.
“We have done nothing deliberately to harm this relationship, and we have seen too many incidents in recent years in which Chinese interest has been harmed,” Wang Xining, the deputy head of the Chinese embassy, told Canberra on Wednesday.
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The BRI trades with Victoria, the second most populous state in the country, with the aim of increasing Chinese participation in new infrastructure projects. They were signed between October 2018 and a year later.
While China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment sent outside normal business hours on Wednesday, spokesman Zhao Lijian said in Australia in August that his country’s partnership with Victoria had benefited BRI from both sides.
“Australia must have an objective view of such cooperation and BRI, and not create obstacles to China-Australia cooperation,” said Zhao.
Research partnerships
The laws allow Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government to block or curtail foreign involvement in a wide variety of sectors, such as infrastructure, trade cooperation, tourism, cultural cooperation, science, health and education, including university research partnerships.
Payne said on Wednesday that she had been informed of more than 1,000 agreements between foreign governments and Australia’s states and territories, local governments and public universities since the laws took effect.
The law can still allow the federal government to review and destroy memoranda of understanding between Beijing and the state governments of Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania in sectors ranging from investment, scientific cooperation, and access to Antarctica.
“I’ll continue to consider foreign arrangements,” Payne said. “I expect the vast majority of them to remain unaffected.”
– With the help of Colin Keatinge
(Updates with comments from the Chinese Embassy in the sixth paragraph.)