The Australian parliament yesterday passed legislation giving the federal government power to veto any agreement struck with foreign states, a move likely to anger China and intensify a bitter diplomatic spat between the two countries.
The law allows the Canberra to block any agreement between Australian states, councils or institutions and a foreign government, such as a controversial 2018 deal between the state of Victoria and China.
“Australia’s policies and plans, the rules that we make for our country, are made here in Australia according to our needs and our interests,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Morrison has said that the law is not aimed at any country, but analysts widely view it as being directed at China.
“It creates another trigger for the relationship to deteriorate,” said Melissa Conley Tyler, research fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute.
Under the terms of the new law, the foreign minister can veto any agreements with foreign governments if they “adversely affect Australia’s foreign relations” or are “inconsistent with Australian foreign policy.”
One deal expected to come under the spotlight is Victoria’s participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which Morrison has said weakens the federal government’s ability to control foreign policy.
Morrison declined to comment on whether that arrangement would be vetoed.
Ties between Australia and China further soured this week when a Chinese official posted a fake image of an Australian soldier holding a knife with blood on it to the throat of an Afghan child, prompting Morrison to demand an apology from Beijing.
Some Australian universities’ agreements with state-backed Chinese institutions might come under closer scrutiny. The state of New South Wales last year scrapped a Chinese-funded language program in schools due to fears over foreign influence.
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