Australia Cancels State’s Deals With China’s Belt and Road

© Photographer: Sam Mooy/Getty Images AsiaPac CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 25: Senator Marise Payne during an appearance at Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee at Parliament House on March 25, 2021 in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Sam Mooy/Getty Images)

(Bloomberg) — Australia has canceled agreements between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Victoria state government, in a move that could further worsen ties between the two nations.

The Australian federal government scrapped the memorandum of understanding between Victoria and China’s National Development and Reform Commission, signed in October 2018, along with a framework agreement between them inked a year later, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in an emailed statement Wednesday. Two other deals between Victoria and the governments of Iran and Syria have also been scrapped.

New Australia Law Can Scrap China Belt and Road Accords

“I consider these four arrangements to be inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy or adverse to our foreign relations,” Payne said.

New laws passed by the national parliament in December give the foreign minister the ability to stop new and previously signed agreements between overseas governments and Australia’s eight states and territories, and also with bodies such as local authorities and universities. Relations between Australia and China have steadily worsened over recent years, with a Chinese diplomat indicating Wednesday that there will be no immediate thaw in ties between Beijing and Canberra.

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