New developments around Australia’s cancellation of agreement related to ‘Belt and Road’ initiative

On April 21, Australia canceled two agreements related to the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative signed between Victoria and China; while Beijing protested, the US expressed its solidarity and support for Australia …

With the federal government canceling an agreement related to the Victoria State’s “Belt and Road” initiative, Australia-China relations are worse than ever (Photo: Multidimensional). According to the news site Multi-Dimensional (Dwnews) April 23, citing AFP on the same day, said US State Department spokesman Ned Price on April 22 announced his solidarity, claiming that Australia is facing China’s “forced diplomacy”. , said the Australian government had made its own decision, but because it suffered greatly from Beijing’s actions. “We will continue to stand side by side with the Australian people as they are the leaders facing the coercive actions of the People’s Republic of China,” Ned Price told reporters. Mr. Ned Price, spokesperson for the US State Department (Photo: Dong Phuong). Australia has shown that these “Belt and Road” agreements are inconsistent with Australian foreign policy. China warned that Australia’s withdrawal from the agreement would seriously damage the relations between the two countries. According to previous reports, the Australian government announced on April 21 that it would cancel Victoria’s four foreign agreements, including two related to China’s “Belt and Road” initiative. These two agreements were signed between the Victorian government and China’s National Development and Reform Commission. One of them is a memorandum of understanding signed in October 2018 and the other is a framework agreement signed in October 2019. The Chinese Embassy in Canberra criticized the move as an “unreasonable provocation”. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Uong Van Ban also responded saying that China expressed strong resentment and firmly opposed it, had “strict relations” with Australia and China reserved the right to respond. more in-depth on this. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Penn announced the cancellation of two agreements related to “Belt and road” Victoria signed with China (Image: Reuters). In this case, Australian female Foreign Minister Marise Payne replied: “This plan is very relevant to the national interests of Australia. This action (canceling the two agreements) to ensure consistency in foreign relations. We are all over Australia and it certainly is not aimed at any country. ” She expressed Australia’s efforts to contact China and “requires all governments around the world to respect our government’s decision-making authority”. On April 22, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also stated that the cancellation of the related agreement was because the federal government did not want the agreements signed by other authorities to go against Australia’s foreign policy. He said the government has always acted in the national interests of Australia to protect Australia, but must also ensure that in promoting national interests, the government can be in an Indo-Pacific region itself. be free and open and be in a world that seeks a balance in favor of freedom. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison: the cancellation of the related agreement is due to the federal government’s unwillingness to have the agreements signed by other authorities go against Australia’s foreign policy (Photo: AP). On the Chinese side’s response, the news site Multidimensional give details: At a regular press conference of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs taking place on the afternoon of April 22 in Beijing, a reporter asked: “Recently, the Australian government announced the rejection of the cooperation agreement” The Belt and Road “was signed by the Victorian government with the National Development and Reform Commission of China. Please ask what China has to comment on this? “. Mr. Uong Van Ban, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China replied: “Australia’s Victoria has decided to cooperate with China within the framework of the“ Belt and Road ”initiative to improve the welfare of the people. people from both sides. This is inherently a mutually beneficial affair. The Australian Government has unreasonably vetoed the “Belt and Road” cooperation agreement signed between the Victorian Government and China; arbitrary interference undermines normal exchanges of cooperation, seriously harms China-Australia relations and mutual trust. Mr. Uong Van Ban said, “China expressed strong resentment and strongly opposed it and had strict relations with Australia, China reserved the right to make a deeper response to this.” China urged Australia to give up Cold War thinking and ideological stereotypes, treat Sino-Australian cooperation objectively and soberly, and immediately correct mistakes. make mistakes, change directions, do not go further on the wrong path, do not make the China-Australia relationship that is in serious difficulty worse. ” Mr. Uong Van Ban: China expressed strong resentment and strongly opposed it and has strictly interacted with Australia, China reserves the right to give deeper reactions (Photo: Orient). At the same time, the spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in Australia also stated that China expressed strong dissatisfaction and firmly opposed the Australian Foreign Minister’s announcement on April 21 announcing the cancellation of the memorandum and agreement. Framework for the “Belt and Road” initiative was signed between China and the Victorian government. “Australia’s move is yet another irrational provocation against China,” said the Chinese embassy spokesman. It once again shows that Australia is not sincere in improving China – Australia relations, which will definitely cause more damage to the bilateral relationship, the country will definitely carry stones for its feet “. In Australia’s mainstream media, Secretary of State Marise Payne’s actions began to receive a positive response. Sheet Canberra Times published an article saying that Australia’s actions “made China ache” and that Victoria’s was seen as “against the interests of the country” in the eyes of Canberra officials. Sheet Sydney Morning Herald also criticized the fact that before signing with China, Victoria did not report to the federal government. The Century points out that Australia has become the first country to “tear” agreements related to the “Belt and Road” initiative. Last year China imposed a 212% punitive tax on Australian wines (Image: Getty). According to the Seventh News Network Australia’s move to “cancel” the deal was made after weighing more than 1,000 deals. The four deals that Secretary Payne tore off resemble Australia’s ruling Liberal strategy against the opposition Labor Party. The article called the move a “blow” against Victoria’s Labor governor Daniel Andrews. Nineth News Network Marise Penn, based in South Australia, revealed that Marise Penn went to Sydney to speak after announcing the cancellation of the deal, saying that the Australian side is still in contact with China. This represents a significant contrast to her statement on April 13 that “it is necessary to deal with China’s underground war”. For now, some analysts in Australia are pessimistic about the prospects. For example, Eryk Bagshaw, economic correspondent of the The Century , said that when Australia leads the “fight against China” trend, at least six major industries, including iron ore, worth at least 20 billion USD, will be hit hard, traders Australian imports and exports will have to pay the price. In October 2020, Australia allowed naval ships to participate in joint exercises with the US and Japan in the South China Sea, making China dissatisfied. There are also some Australian scholars and businessmen who remain optimistic about the status quo. For example, Roland Rajah, the lead economist at Lowy Institute, an Australian consulting organization, published an article on April 22 in the newspaper. The Century and Sydney Morning Herald “Why does our economy accept the veto of the agreement related to the Belt and Road initiative”, saying that Beijing’s sanctions against Australia are still limited to a relatively small scope, for example such as barley, beef, copper ore and coal. China will not cut off purchases of major Australian commodities such as iron ore and natural gas. After large commodity trade between China and Australia continued and small items shipped to other exporters, Australia was able to recover under Chinese “sanctions”.