Beijing says rejection of Belt and Road Initiative could be seen as breach of trust
China has wasted no time in responding to Scott Morrison’s crackdown on foreign influence this week, delivering a stark statement about “man-made hurdles” in the embattled relationship.
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CHINA has reacted to the foreign influence crackdown announced this week, warning rejection of its controversial Belt and Road Initiative could be seen as a breach of trust between the nations.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended the proposed crackdown, which would give the Commonwealth the power to rip up agreements state governments and universities hold with foreign powers if found not to be in the national interest, saying he would not “trade away (Australia’s) sovereignty”.
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The Courier-Mail this week revealed the Federal Government is aware of at least 31 foreign agreements Queensland has entered into with foreign powers, including six with Chinese entities.
The foreign influence crackdown is understood to be focused more on agreements like Victoria signing up to the controversial Belt and Road Initiative, which has been described as “debt trap diplomacy”.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian praised Victoria for the deal and urged Australia against including the BRI in the crackdown.
“The successful practices between China and the Victoria State on BRI co-operation have greatly improved the wellbeing of the two peoples,” he said.
“We hope that the Australian side will view China-Australia co-operation and BRI in an objective and rational way, place no man-made hurdles for normal exchanges and co-operation and work for, not against, mutual trust and mutual benefit between the two sides.”
Mr Morrison said the relationship with China was important and they were not seeking to do anything to injure that dynamic.
“I think it’s going through a difficult patch, but what we’ve done is, I don’t believe, anything to injure that relationship,” he said.
“We’ve just been standing up for our own interests. Trade is important but you don’t trade away your sovereignty.”
Meanwhile China has slapped a ban on beef from a fifth Queensland abattoir, John Dee in Warwick.
But is understood not to be related to the trade tensions, with Agriculture Minister David Littleproud saying it followed the detection of a substance called chloramphenicol.
“I have spoken to the establishment and they believe they have traced the source of this substance,” he said.
“My department is working with the establishment to give Chinese authorities assurances around this incident and to have the establishment relisted after appropriate investigation.”
Chloramphenicol, an antibiotic which is banned in beef, can be a naturally occurring substance in stockfeed.