The federal government has given Victoria until tomorrow (10 March) to explain why its Belt and Road Initiative deal with China should not be ripped up.
Power to cancel the memorandum of understanding Victoria signed under China’s $US1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) Belt and Road Initiative now rests with Canberra under recent changes to the Foreign Relations Act.
The coalition should not use those powers to cancel it.
For a start, it would be hypocritical given the coalition via its then trade minister, Steven Ciobo, signed its own MoU as part of China’s BRI in 2017. The coalition has not renounced this MoU and instead offers the pretty feeble excuse that its MoU only covers cooperation with China on building infrastructure such as roads and bridges in third party countries.
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China has slapped punitive sanctions on a range of Australian exports as the two countries clash on a range of issues. AFP
China investment in Oz falls as virus bites, relations sour
Mon, 1 March 2021
Chinese investment in Australia plunged almost two-thirds last year to less than $1 billion as the impact of coronavirus was compounded by increasingly fraught relations between the two countries.
The reading marks the fourth straight drop and is just a fraction of the $13 billion injected into the country in 2016, with Canberra growing increasingly wary of the Asian superpower’s intentions.
Data from the Australian National University (ANU) released on February 28 showed direct investment plunged to $800 million last year, from $2.05 billion in 2019.
Foreign investment clampdown prompts claims of Chinese buyers being frozen out
SunSunday 13
Experts say tightening Chinese investment in Australia will not help the current trade problems.
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Efforts by Chinese companies to buy Australian assets are being left to languish or rejected under temporary restrictions to foreign investment that experts claim are further aggravating relations between Canberra and Beijing.
Key points:
From December 31, foreign buyers will face even more scrutiny when bidding for sensitive assets
Experts say restrictions are being used to screen out bids by Chinese companies and are counterproductive to trade relations
Foreign Investment Advisory Australia director Lachlan Molesworth, a former advisor to Scott Morrison while he was Treasurer, said the Government was within its rights to tailor foreign investment rules to the national interest.
Commentary: China and Australia went from chilly to barely speaking. That could have been avoided Toggle share menu
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Commentary: China and Australia went from chilly to barely speaking. That could have been avoided Those responsible for Australia’s foreign policy clearly have not been able to avoid the pitfalls that have brought Sino-Australian relations to an all-time low, says an observer.
View of the Chinese and Australian flags. (File photo: AFP/Frederic J Brown)
13 Dec 2020 06:10AM) Share this content
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MELBOURNE: When the history of this latest low point in China-Australia relations is written, both sides will be blamed for mistakes.