Australia has terminated many previous agreements with China under the China One Zone, One Road project, BBC writesThe Australian move completely angered the Chinese.
The Australian federal government has canceled two agreements between Victoria and China using new legal options. Canberra said it withdrew from the agreements to protect Australian national interests. But the Chinese embassy described the move as a provocation. Diplomatic relations between Australia and China are already strained and are likely to worsen as the federal government enters into treaties between the state and China. According to the Chinese statement, the Australian government has destroyed the bilateral relations between the two countries and will only harm themselves.
It was the first time that the Australian government had used its veto power to review state, municipal, and public university treaties with other countries. This is because the government can abolish it for reasons of national security interests.
Contracts with China were not only canceled: Secretary of State Maryse Payne annulled a treaty that the Victorian Ministry of Education concluded with Iran in 2004 and with Syria in 1999. Both agreements were on educational cooperation. Payne said the four agreements are inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy.
The state of Victoria signed an agreement with China in 2018 and 2019: joining a massive international investment and infrastructure development program called One Zone, One Road has already been criticized by the Australian federal government and even by then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
China is Australia’s largest trading partner, and many Chinese students also study in Australian universities, but the relationship between the two has been increasingly tense for years: Australians say Beijing wants to gain undue influence in the country. In Australia, foreign investment has already been curtailed and Huawei is banned from 5G projects.
