Staff members chat as they prepare for a seminar on Australia-China bilateral cooperation in resources and infrastructure in Western Australia, Beijing, July 23, 2009. REUTERS / Jason Lee
Australia on Wednesday canceled two agreements reached by its state of Victoria with China over Beijing’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative, prompting the Chinese embassy in Canberra to warn that already strained bilateral ties would be forced to get worse.
According to a new lawsuit in Australia, Foreign Minister Marise Payne has the power to review agreements reached with other nations by the country’s states and universities.
Payne said he had decided to cancel four agreements, including two that Victoria agreed with China in 2018 and 2019, in cooperation with the Belt and Road Initiative, the trading and infrastructure system signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I consider these four agreements to be inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy or are adverse to our foreign relations,” it said in a statement.
The Chinese embassy in Australia on Wednesday afternoon expressed its “strong unease and strong opposition” to the cancellations.
“This is another unreasonable and provocative move taken by the Australian side against China,” the embassy said in a statement. “In addition, it shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations.”
Bilateral ties tightened in 2018 when Australia became the first country to publicly ban Chinese technology giant Huawei from its 5G network. Relations worsened last year when Canberra called for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak.
Australia’s latest action “will likely cause more damage to bilateral relations and will only end up hurting itself,” the Chinese embassy said.
The Australian Federal Parliament granted veto power over foreign agreements by states in December amid deepening diplomatic dispute with China, which has imposed a series of trade sanctions on Australian exports ranging from wine to coal.
Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, had refused to agree on a country-level MOU with China over the Belt and Road initiative.
But Victorian Labor Prime Minister Dan Andrews signed agreements with China’s National Development and Reform Commission to promote the initiative in 2018 and 2019.
Some countries fear that borrowing from the Belt and Road plan could lead to unsustainable debt levels in developing nations, including the Pacific Islands region.
The Morrison government has denied that its new veto power is directed at China, Australia’s main trading partner and the largest source of university students abroad before the pandemic led the country to close its doors. its borders.
Payne said states, local governments and publicly funded universities had notified him of more than 1,000 foreign bids in general.
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