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Australia has canceled agreements between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Victoria State Government, in a move that could further worsen ties between the two countries.
The Australian federal government has scrapped both the memorandum of understanding and the framework agreement between Victoria and China’s national commission for development and reform, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in an email statement on Wednesday. Two other deals between Victoria and the governments of Iran and Syria have also been deleted.
“I consider these four arrangements to be contrary to Australia’s foreign policy, or unfavorable to our foreign relations,” Payne said.
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The bans are the first under laws passed by the national parliament in December, giving the foreign minister the opportunity to sign new and previously signed agreements between overseas governments and the eight states and territories of Australia, and also with bodies such as local authorities and universities, to stop.
Payne’s move could worsen ties between Australia and its biggest trading partner, which has been in free fall for a year, after the government called for an independent inquiry into the origin of the coronavirus. Beijing has since inflicted a series of retaliation, including imposing crippling tariffs on Australian barley and wine while blocking the shipment of coal.
The action ‘is another unreasonable and challenging step taken by the Australian party against China’, the Chinese embassy in Canberra said in an email statement. “It further shows that the Australian Government has no sincerity in improving relations between China and Australia, but that it is likely to cause further damage to bilateral relations, and that it will only harm itself.”
No thawing
The announcement comes the same day as a Chinese diplomat indicated that there will be no immediate thawing in ties between Beijing and Canberra.
“We have done nothing intentional to harm this relationship, and we have seen too many incidents in the past few years in which China’s interest has been harmed,” Chinese Embassy Deputy Chief Wang Xining told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
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The BRI is about Victoria, the country’s most populous country, which aims to increase Chinese participation in new infrastructure projects. They were signed between October 2018 and a year later.
While the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday did not respond to a request for comment sent outside normal office hours, government spokesman Zhao Lijian said in Australia in August that his country’s co-operation with Victoria on BRI benefits entails both sides.
“Australia should have an objective view of such cooperation and BRI, and not create barriers to China-Australia cooperation,” Zhao said.
Research partnerships
The laws allow the government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison to block or restrict foreign involvement in a wide range of sectors such as infrastructure, trade cooperation, tourism, cultural cooperation, science, health and education, including university research partnerships.
Payne said on Wednesday she had been informed of more than 1,000 arrangements between foreign governments and Australian states and territories, local governments and public universities since the law was enacted.
The law could still allow the federal government to review memoranda of understanding between Beijing and the state governments of Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania and overthrow them in sectors ranging from investment, scientific cooperation and access to Antarctica.
“I will continue to consider foreign arrangements,” Payne said. “I expect the vast majority of them to remain untouched.”
– Assisted by Colin Keatinge
(Updates with comments from the Chinese Embassy in sixth paragraph.)