Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

China Blasts Australia’s Decision to Cancel Belt and Road Deal

Published 04/22/2021, 04:10 AM
Updated 04/22/2021, 08:54 AM
© Reuters.  China Blasts Australia’s Decision to Cancel Belt and Road Deal

© Reuters. China Blasts Australia’s Decision to Cancel Belt and Road Deal

(Bloomberg) -- China has slammed Australia’s decision to cancel agreements between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Victoria state government, signaling a worsening of ties between the nations.

The Australian federal government scrapped both the memorandum of understanding and framework agreement signed between Victoria and China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Beijing’s top economic planning body, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in an emailed statement Wednesday. She described the deals as “inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy or adverse to our foreign relations.”

The step “is another unreasonable and provocative move taken by the Australian side against China,” the Chinese embassy in Canberra said in an emailed statement. “It further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations -- it is bound to bring further damage to bilateral relations, and will only end up hurting itself.”

Australia “basically fired the first major shot against China in trade and investment” conflicts, Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University in Shanghai, told the Communist Party-backed Global Times. “China will surely respond accordingly.”

China has lodged stern representations with Australia over the issue and reserved the right to take more action, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing Thursday in Beijing.

Relations between Australia and its largest trading partner have been in freefall for a year after the government called for an independent probe into the origins of the coronavirus. Beijing has since inflicted a range of trade reprisals, including imposing crippling tariffs on Australian barley and wine while blocking coal shipments.

“What we have to wait for now is how Beijing will react materially” to Payne’s move, Clive Hamilton, a professor at the Charles Sturt University, said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Thursday. “The Belt and Road is Beijing’s strategic tool to advance Beijing’s influence around the world.”

The bans are the first under laws passed by the national parliament in December that give the foreign minister the ability to stop new and previously signed agreements between overseas governments and Australia’s eight states and territories, and also with bodies such as local authorities and universities.

No Thaw

Payne’s announcement, which included bans on two other deals between Victoria and the governments of Iran and Syria, came the same day a Chinese diplomat indicated that there will be no immediate thaw in ties between Beijing and Canberra.

“We have done nothing intentionally to hurt this relationship, and we have seen too many incidents over the past few years in which China’s interest has been hurt,” Wang Xining, the Chinese Embassy’s deputy head of mission, told reporters in Canberra.

The BRI deals with Victoria, the nation’s second-most populous state, aimed to increase Chinese participation in new infrastructure projects. They were signed between October 2018 and a year later.

Research Partnerships

The laws allow Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government to block or curtail foreign involvement in a broad range of sectors such as infrastructure, trade cooperation, tourism, cultural collaboration, science, health and education, including university research partnerships.

Payne said Wednesday she had been alerted to more than 1,000 arrangements between foreign governments and Australia’s states and territories, local governments and public universities since the laws were enacted.

The law may still allow the federal government to review and overturn memorandums of understanding between Beijing and the state governments of Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania in sectors ranging from investment, science cooperation and access to the Antarctic.

“I will continue to consider foreign arrangements,” Payne said. “I expect the overwhelming majority of them to remain unaffected.”

Wang Huiyao, an adviser to China’s cabinet and founder of the Center for China and Globalization, described Australia’s move as unwise.

Victoria’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative was a “huge benefit” for Australia, and “if they abandon that, it’s going to take more time for China-Australia relations to recover,” he said.

 

Latest comments

As long as it benefits Australian population, but not politician.
Australia finally realized CCP is a dictatorial communist country must be kept in check
bravo. the chinese are bullies & not to be trusted under any circumstances
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.