Andrews won’t budge on Belt and Road deal

The Victorian Premier says he is ‘very proud’ to have signed his state up to controversial Chinese trade initiative.

Premier Daniel Andrews backs Victoria’s ‘partnership’ with China. Picture: AAP

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says he is “very proud” to have signed his state up to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative on trade and investment, despite his West Australian Labor counterpart, Mark McGowan, this week rejecting China’s push for his state to join.

Mr Andrews broke ranks with the federal government last year when he signed a memorandum of understanding with Beijing on the BRI, which is viewed in Canberra as a vehicle for Chinese regional and global expansion.

The four-page MOU signed in October said Victoria and China would work together to promote the “connectivity” of policy, infrastructure, trade, finance and people­, while acknowledging Victoria was “welcoming and supporting” of the BRI.

Defending the decision yesterday, Mr Andrews said he was proud of Victoria’s “very strong” relationship with China.

“It’s not by accident,” Mr Andrews said, adding that he travelled to China every year.

“Every member of my cabinet has travelled to China in the delivery of a promise that I made over my previous four years. We’ve got a couple of new members of cabinet this time. They’ll be going to China as well.”

Mr Andrews said he did not see China as simply a “customer” for Australian exports. “We’ve seen some commentary recently comparing friends and customers. That’s not the way we approach this. It is a partnership,” he said.

“Our biggest export in this state is international education, and we’ve seen the number of Chinese students grow from about 60,000 when I was first elected to almost 90,000 today.

“We’ve seen our exports go from about $6.5 billion to close to $11bn. We’ve seen direct foreign investment go from about 7 per cent to 27 per cent.”

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said Mr Andrews still had not explained what the BRI meant for Victorians.