Gravitas: Australia sends a message to China

there was a time when china called australia chewing gum stuck at the soul of its shoes now australia has given china a dose of its own medicine not in words but this is something that beijing is finding too hard to swallow the australian government has torn up a deal a deal between the state of victoria and xi jinping's super highway to world power the belt and road initiative in other words australia has crabbed a bri project it's a belting that has let loose chinese propagandists once again and we'll discuss that in a bit first let's tell you what's happened australia as you know consists of self-administered states there are six of them and they have their own constitutions their own legislatures they also have the powers to sign deals with foreign governments so the state of victoria which also happens to be a major financial hub in australia had signed a memorandum of understanding with china this was for investments via the belt and road initiative for victoria the deal meant considerable economic benefits for beijing it meant an economic foothold on australian soil the scott morrison government found this agreement in conflict with national interest beijing and canberra as you're already aware have been clashing on multiple fronts there's an ongoing face-off over wuhan virus origins a diplomatic spat over crackdown on australians in china and disputes over chinese sanctions on australian products so simply put the bilateral ties are at their lowest point ever which is why the australian government has crabbed victoria's decision to join the bri the deal has been overruled and this was done through a new veto legislation something that was introduced in the australian parliament last year listen to this the foreign relations act that our government put in place was designed to protect our national interest by ensuring that there were no other agreements ended to enter into by any other level of government that would conflict with australia's national interest and so what we've done is we've followed through and there have been four agreements that the foreign minister has terminated in in line with that foreign relations act that power that we were able to attract from the parliament so how has china responded just like it always does with threats and bluster the chinese embassy in australia has branded the move as unreasonable and provocative it says this decision is bound to bring further damage and that australia will only end up hurting itself meanwhile the chinese foreign ministry in beijing has labeled the move as reckless interference it has expressed its quote-unquote strong dissatisfaction watch this audience foreign the australian federal government has no reason to cancel the belt and road cooperation agreement between the victoria state government and the chinese government this brings reckless interference and damage to our regular exchanges and cooperation this severely harms china-australian interests and mutual trust china expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to this china has already lodged solemn representations with australia china reserves the right to take further action we reserve the right to take further actions as china so far the action seems to be restricted to social media fury much of it fueled by beijing's propaganda machine anti-australia hashtags have been flying like missiles weibo users have been let loose and they're calling australia mad undignified a lackey of america the australian strategic policy institute reviewed these weibo posts and they say the virality of the hashtag is being driven by chinese propagandists most of the posts happen to be from state media accounts and we know how china excels in making things go viral meanwhile the global times is doing its bit it is attributing its headlines to anonymous observers and warning australia of serious consequences but australia says it will not budge in the face of these threats it will continue to act in national interest and do whatever it takes to maintain a free and open indo-pacific i'll wrap with this we will always act in australia's national interest to protect australia but to also ensure that we can advance our national interests of a free and open indo-pacific and a world that seeks a balance in favor of freedom vion is now available in your country download the app now and get all the news on the move

Channel: WION

Views: 306,915

Keywords: Australia, australia news, china, state of Victoria, belt and road project, australio news today, wion, wion news today, english news, english news today, gravitas, gravitas today

Id: atC1HT_ZEho

Length: 4min 53sec (293 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 22 2021