Coronavirus: Anthony Albanese rules out deal on Belt and Road

Anthony Albanese says Australia will not join China’s Belt and Road Initiative if he wins the next election.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: AAP

Anthony Albanese says Australia will not join China’s Belt and Road Initiative if he wins the next election, after Victorian Premier Daniel ­Andrews was criticised for his government’s agreement with the Asian superpower.

It was the first time the Opposition Leader has confirmed a ­future Labor government under his leadership would not support China’s controversial global infrastructure and trade strategy.

When pressed several times if he supported Mr Andrews’s BRI deal, Mr Albanese said he never backed it and would not support a similar agreement with China if he became prime minister by 2022.

“A government I lead would not be signing up to the Belt and Road Initiative,” he told Triple M Tasmania. “I didn’t do that (support the Victorian BRI deal). Long bow there.”

The Andrews government is sticking to the BRI agreement with China despite US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying on Sunday it increased the capacity of the Chinese Communist Party to “do harm”.

Scott Morrison said the federal government had never supported Victoria’s agreement, with foreign policy determined by the commonwealth in Australia’s interest.

Mr Albanese said the federal government could not lecture Mr Andrews after its promotion of the China-Australia free-trade agreement and the sale of the Port of Darwin to Chinese interests in 2015. “This is a commonwealth government that … trumpeted the signing of the economic partnership with China … the free-trade agreement is much broader,” Mr Albanese said.

“Maybe he (Mr Andrews) thought these blokes sold off the Port of Darwin and now the person who was trade minister at that ­period (Andrew Robb) is an adviser to the company that oversees it.”

A Global Times editorial on Monday said Australia would be punished if it backed the United States in any cold war, as US President Donald Trump considers sanctions against Chinese businesses.

“Once Australia is regarded as a supporter of the US in a new cold war, China-Australia economic ties will inevitably suffer a fatal blow,” the Beijing mouthpiece said. “This is why Canberra needs to closely watch Washington’s ­attacks, which include placing ­Chinese firms on its sanctions backlist.

‘‘This offers Canberra a window to observe whether there will be a new cold war between China and the US and to reconsider its strategic relations with Washington.”

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce warned Australia would get hurt if it was “too far out in front” in pushing for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

He backed opposition agriculture and resources spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon, who said Australia had a role in calling for an investigation but should not be the lead agency because we were not “big enough” and there would be economic ramifications.

China has slapped 80 per cent tariffs on Australian barley and banned beef from four abattoirs.

“I understand where Joel’s coming from,” Mr Joyce told Seven’s Sunrise program. “We’ve got to make sure that the United States of America is the lead ­agency in dealing with these issues, the EU is the lead agency. We’ve got to be a participant … on the side of those who believe in democracy, those who believe in freedom.

“But if we get too far out in front, I think we’re the ones who are going to get hurt.”