The BRI has come under scrutiny in Australia over the years and the 2020 forum was downgraded to a “Belt and Road” event hosted in Parliament of Victoria, Melbourne. No one at a federal level seemed to know it was coming – something that’s fairly unusual in normal dealings. Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday as reporting that he hasn't seen the benefits of Victoria's Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) agreement. The MoU is a general non-binding document that commits Victoria to no specific project. Mr Smith can’t see Victoria abandoning the BRI any time soon, given the political brawling doesn’t seem to be inflicting any damage on the State Government. The Victorian government’s Belt and Road agreement with the Chinese government could be cancelled as soon as mid-March, according to Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell. Signing them adds legitimacy to official Chinese narratives. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. Prime Minister Morrison now has the power to quash the state’s MoU with China. Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said this week that China’s trade retaliation over recent weeks, which impacted some Victorian farmers, shows the BRI is a “dud”. This Chinese Initiative is a huge and ambitious project worth trillions of dollars that involves China co-funding hundreds of infrastructure projects all over the world. In some regions, such as the Pacific, that level of influence could represent a national security risk for the Western world. Credit: Wayne Taylor A spokeswoman for the Victorian government confirmed to The Age it … Victoria has signed a fresh deal with the Chinese government and its global Belt and Road infrastructure project with Premier Daniel Andrews urging other Australian governments to follow suit. BlackRock gave Rio Tinto the cover to disregard the deep alarm of Australian investors. Xi’s China is no longer what it used to be,” Vincenzo Amendola, Italy’s Foreign Minister for European affairs, admitted last month. Courtesy 3AW, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews at Tiananmen Square in Beijing during one of several visits to China.Source:Supplied. Dr Smith said the comments were “very off” in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, but also continual revelations about human rights abuses in prison camps in Xinjiang, and in light of attempts to cripple freedoms in Hong Kong. Victoria is the only Australian state to sign a memorandum of understanding with China supporting its Belt & Road Initiative, although the move was controversial. The Case for Australia Keeping Victoria’s Belt and Road Deal By Yuan Jiang. China’s push for global dominance has been cause for concern for the West for some time – but it’s escalated in the past few years. “With the biggest infrastructure program in our state’s history under way, we have the design and delivery skills China is looking for, meaning more jobs and more trade and investment for Victorians,” Mr Andrews said in October 2018. This Chinese Initiative is a huge and ambitious project worth trillions of dollars that involves China co-funding hundreds of infrastructure projects all over the world. The ‘Golden Bridge of Silk Road’ structure outside Beijing’s National Convention Centre where the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was held in 2017. He should hold off, at least for now. Nationwide News Pty Limited Copyright © 2021. Another concern raised on many occasions relates to accusations that China was engaging in “debt trap diplomacy”, he said. Victoria first signed a “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) as part of the Belt and Road Initiative in October 2018. “In weighing up the costs and benefits of the immense effort Victoria has expended in building trade and investment links with China, for no appreciable value added, we have to consider the opportunity costs of not investing comparable effort in relations with Japan and India and other countries in the region.”. “It’s an investment project to encourage trade. At regional gatherings and grand celebrations in Beijing, Chinese officials advertise the Belt and Road as multilateral. Jonathan Hillman Nov 20, 2020 – 12.00am In fact, it came after the Commonwealth had declined an invitation to sign on, largely out of concerns about China’s true intentions, so the news was viewed as quite astounding to DFAT. The MoU is a general non-binding document that commits Victoria to no specific project. The passage of the Foreign Relations Bill has given Canberra the power to scrap Victoria’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) deal. Will Morrison act on his long-felt and justifiable wish now to ensure a consistent national foreign policy? On a seemingly ordinary October morning in 2018, senior officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade were blindsided in a pretty spectacular way. Michael Shoebridge is the director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Defence, Strategy and National Security program, and he’s equally confused about why the BRI deal still exists. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or B&R), known in Chinese and formerly in English as One Belt One Road (Chinese: 一带一路) or OBOR for short, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries and international organizations. Eighteen months on, in the shadow of significant trade and political tensions between Canberra and Beijing, due to Australia’s call for an independent inquiry into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic, Victoria’s deal is under renewed scrutiny. The State of Victoria and the Belt and Road Initiative. Victoria has little to show for signing up to China's Belt and Road Initiative and keeping the MOU sends the wrong signal. It is many things to many people, and full of symbolism, much of it misleading. Since the Belt and Road Initiative was announced in 2013, Chinese officials have raced to sign memorandums of understanding (MOUs). And Professor John Fitzgerald, a China expert at Swinburne University of Technology, is sceptical about any real benefit from the deal. As tensions between Canberra and Beijing escalated, sparked by the government’s lobbying for an inquiry into COVID-19, leading to trade barriers from China, Victoria’s Treasurer Tim Pallas chose to use some intriguing language. The developed framework now reveals that the BRI partnership goes beyond infrastructure investment to include technology and agriculture investment. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or B&R), known in Chinese and formerly in English as One Belt One Road (Chinese: 一带一路) or OBOR for short, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries and international organizations. What Christian Porter’s hiring of Minter Ellison’s Peter Bartlett actually says about his legal strategy. The cancellation of Victoria's Belt and Road Initiative deal with China is an early test of new Commonwealth powers to veto state government agreements with foreign governments. The Framework Agreement on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) agreed between the Victorian Government and the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China in October 2019 builds on the existing BRI Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in October 2018. The State of Victoria and the Belt and Road Initiative. But those that have been shared are thin and shallow compared with trade agreements. The Framework Agreement on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) agreed between the Victorian Government and the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China in October 2019 builds on the existing BRI Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in October 2018. “If it’s about giving Chinese firms work, there are plenty of Australian companies that are at least as qualified and available to undertake infrastructure projects. To join the conversation, please Log in. The Victorian government’s links to Beijing are being questioned by the federal Government amid Australia’s trade tensions with China. The Chinese are weaponising federalism by driving a political wedge between the federal and state positions on the Belt and Road Initiative. More concrete symbols are the massive projects – railways, deep-sea ports and coal-fired power plants – that Chinese state-owned enterprises are building around the world. “If it’s about cheap financing, the COVID-19 environment means money is as cheap for governments to borrow as it has ever been, so that reason doesn’t make much sense,” Mr Shoebridge said. But it is actually the MOU that best captures what the Belt and Road is – and isn’t. Don't have an account? For all the fanfare from supporters, and anxiety from critics, the documents are weak. Sign up, Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout. Daniel Andrews at the Temple of Heaven during a visit to Beijing.Source:Supplied, Daniel Andrews at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.Source:Supplied. Victoria should instead invest more effort in broadening trade and investment agreements with countries like India, Japan and Vietnam, Prof Fitzgerald said. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the ambitious One Belt, One Road project – more commonly referred to as the Belt and Road Initiative – in 2013, calling it “a bid to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future”. Prime Minister Morrison now has the power to quash the state’s MoU with China. On October 23, Labour Premier Daniel Andrews signed a new deal with the Chinese regime and its BRI, and urged the Australian government to follow suit, reported The Sydney Morning Herald. A chunk of the blame for the level of public distrust about the arrangement lies with Mr Andrews and his government for the secretive nature of the deal. While it was initially designed to promote investment in Victoria’s mammoth pipeline of infrastructure projects and boost exports from the state, it has evolved in the 18 months since. It doesn’t support our sovereignty, our security or our jobs. Join the conversation, you are commenting as, news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site>news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site, they’d just found out about it at the same time as everybody else, Victoria’s Belt and Road deal with China raises concerns, Australia to introduce new rules on foreign takeovers that inflame relations with China, Chinese businesswoman Jean Dong was a key figure in Victoria’s controversial trade deal with CCP, China pro-government newspaper publishes article labelling Australian MPs ‘thugs’. Victoria has little to show for signing up to China's Belt and Road Initiative and keeping the MOU sends the wrong signal. This article was one of the most read in Australian Outlook in 2020. But, there’s an element of companies who are part of BRI being expected to do the State’s bidding. For Chinese officials, the documents show they are advancing their leader’s vision. Victoria’s deal with China makes little sense in the current political and economic climate, opponents say. Mr Shoebridge said the optics of the extraordinary intervention by a state politician about national foreign policy and trade was damaging. There were certainly questions asked when Victoria first signed a memorandum of understanding to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in … Premier Daniel Andrews had signed a memorandum of understanding with Beijing to make his state a member of the Communist Party’s $1.5 trillion Belt and Road Initiative – the only government in the country to do so. Rather than endorsing the Belt and Road, or condemning every project with Chinese involvement, countries must examine economic opportunities on their merits and with the broader goal of building resilience to coercion. They are also part of China’s economic statecraft, which uses carrots to convince countries to align with Beijing’s political objectives, and as Australia is experiencing, coercion when they do not fall in line. But for all of the controversy then and now, there’s an important point in all of this, Dr Smith said. The Belt and Road is the best known, least understood global vision in recent history. Before Victoria’s officials took the plunge, in 2016, Canada’s province of British Columbia signed an MOU with Guangdong, a Chinese province.
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