NEW LAW EMPOWERS AUSTRALIA TO SCRAP CHINA BELT AND ROAD PLANS

Australia can now veto plans between foreign governments and its states and territories, stymying China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) hopes, Bloomberg reported on December 10, 2020. More than 10% of such BRI projects have either been frozen, scrapped or forgotten worldwide since the BRI concept only serves as a global highway for Chinese industries.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has new powers to veto or scrap agreements that state governments reach with foreign powers under laws that could stymie China’s BRI plans in Australia and further inflame tensions between the trading partners. The laws passed by Parliament on Tuesday will give the foreign minister the ability to stop new and previously signed agreements between overseas governments and Australia’s eight states and territories, and with bodies such as local authorities and universities.

Morrison’s government will be able 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. An early target is likely to be an agreement the Victoria state government signed in 2018 to join President Xi Jinping’s signature infrastructure-building BRI. The laws could further worsen ties between Australia and its largest trading partner, which have been in free fall since April, when the prime minister 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.

Relations hit a fresh low last week when a Chinese diplomat tweeted an image purporting to show an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child. After Morrison called for an apology for the “repugnant” post, a senior Chinese Foreign Ministry official dismissed the demand, questioning whether the Australian leader “lacks a sense of right and wrong.” This retort has inflamed Australians who described the Chinese as “uncivilized” and prompted Canberra to cripple Chinese participation in Australian projects, A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs late Tuesday urged Canberra to take “an objective and logical view on the BRI initiative and refrain from creating obstacles that prevent normal communication between China and Australia.” Canberra is poised to dismiss Beijing’s arrogant counsel and might scrap a Chinese lease of a port in Darwin.