Jean Dong not present at BRI signing: Daniel Andrews

Daniel Andrews says he doesn’t believe Jean Dong was in China when he signed the Belt and Road framework agreement.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says he doesn’t believe Jean Dong was in China when he signed the Belt and Road framework agreement.

Ms Dong, a self-proclaimed government influencer, heads the Australia China Belt and Road Initiative along with former MPs Andrew Robb and Lindsay Tanner as well as Elders boss Mark Allison.

On Friday, Mr Andrews told reporters Ms Dong was not present when he signed a framework agreement with China’s National Development and Reform Commission in October 2019.

“The document was signed with the National Development Reform and I don’t believe she was there,” he said in response to questions.

“China’s a big place and she’s free to travel wherever she wants … I don’t grant visas into China or anywhere else. She might have been in the country. She was not at the signing.”

Mr Andrews said he was unsure if he interacted with Ms Dong on the October trip, saying he’d need to check his records.

“I don’t know, I’d need to check my records, literally dozens and dozens of meetings, with lots of different people,” he said.

Premier Daniel Andrews with Jean Dong and other participants in an event hosted by ACBRI. Picture: Supplied

“She does play a role that is important in an organisation that's important, that I thought had bipartisan support … it certainly received funding from the federal government and from our government.”

ACBRI has been heavily ­involved in promoting China’s Belt and Road Initiative to the ­Victorian government and business­ community, and in 2017 posted online that in May that year it had been “appointed as a consultant unit by the Premier of ­Victoria”.

When asked on Friday what role Jean Dong played in securing Victoria’s MOU, Mr Andrews said: “Well, the government has a number of agreements with China.

“The individual that you’re referring to and the organisation that she works for, which I think Andrew Robb’s an adviser too, Lindsay Tanner’s an adviser too … They’ve received a grant from our government, they’ve also received a grant from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.”
The Australian has previously revealed that ACBRI was awarded two taxpayer-funded contracts by the Andrews government in 2017-18 and 2019-20, totalling $36,850, to advise on China’s global­ commercial play.

In 2016, the Australia-China Council, which is partially funded by DFAT, gave ACBRI a $20,000 grant.

Mr Andrews referred questions on why the grant was awarded without a tender to a previous statement given by his office.

Victoria has found itself at the frontline of tensions between Australia and China because of the decision by Mr Andrews to sign up to the Belt and Road Initiative, which is seen by Canberra as a vehicle for Chinese expansion.

He broke ranks with the federal government in Oct­ober 2018 when Victoria became­ the only Australian jurisdiction to sign an MOU with ­Beijing on the controversial BRI on trade and investment­.

On Friday, Mr Andrews said he supported the federal government’s foreign policy, including the recent rebuke of a new security law passed by the Chinese government that critics say will erode liberty in Hong Kong.

“Foreign policy, that’s a matter for the Commonwealth, they’ve had something to say about these Hong Kong issues and I support them in that,” he said.

“As for trade policy, jobs policy? We’ll always do whatever we can to get more Victorian made products into international markets.”