Scott Morrison says he never supported Victoria's trade deal with China as he urges states to 'follow his lead' after U.S. threatened to 'disconnect' with Australia
- PM Scott Morrison said he never supported Victoria's trade deal with China
- Daniel Andrews signed Victoria up to controversial Belt and Road Initiative
- Chinese scheme gives infrastructure loans and investment as a soft power play
- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned it was a security risk for Australia
- Australia would be cut off from vital intelligence sharing if it became an issue
- US Ambassador hosed down warning said US confident with Australia's security
Scott Morrison says he never supported the trade deal between Victoria and China as he urged state leaders to follow his lead on foreign policy.
Premier Daniel Andrews signed up to the controversial Belt and Road Initiative that provides loans and investment in infrastructure projects.
Victoria is the only Australian state to sign the agreement and has been widely criticised for doing so.
'We didn't support that decision at the time they made it,' Mr Morrison said in Murrumbateman on Sunday.
'National interest issues on foreign affairs are determined by the federal government.
Scott Morrison said he never supported the trade deal between Victoria and China that prompted a threat from the US claiming it would disconnect with Australia
'I respect their jurisdiction when it comes to the issues they are responsible for and it's always been the usual practice for states to respect and recognise the role of the federal government in setting foreign policy.
'And I think that's been a good practice.'
Mr Morrison's comments came after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to cut Australia off from vital intelligence sharing if the deal compromised telecommunications.
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'We will not take any risks to our telecommunications infrastructure, any risk to the national security elements of what we need to do with our Five Eyes partners,' he said on Sky News.
'I don't know the nature of those projects precisely. To the extent they have an adverse impact on our ability to protect telecommunications from our private citizens, or security networks for our defence and intelligence communities – we simply disconnect, we will simply separate.
'We are going to preserve trust in networks… we hope our friends and allies, especially our Five Eyes partners like Australia, do the same.'
Premier Daniel Andrews signed up to the controversial Belt and Road Initiative that provides loans and investment in infrastructure projects
The Five Eyes is an intelligence sharing alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain, and the U.S.
The Belt and Road scheme is a non-legally binding agreement to mutually beneficial trade, investment and infrastructure.
Victoria went ahead with the agreement against the position of the federal government and security agencies.
'Every citizen of Australia that should know that everyone of those Belt and Road projects need to be looked at incredibly closely,' Mr Pompeo said.
'It is the case, some of them may just be straight up commercial transactions, if so, fine, but nearly each one of them has some cost to it.
'There is often money loaned at concessional rates, or conditions placed on the debt documents, or concessions that have to be made to the Chinese communist party in order to get those Belt and Road Initiatives projects built.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to cut Australia off from vital intelligence sharing if Victoria's deal with China compromised telecommunications
'Those present real risk, real risk to the people in that region, real risk to country and frankly they build up the capacity of the Chinese communist party to do harm elsewhere.'
But US ambassador to Australia, Arthur Culvahouse, hosed down the warning on Sunday and said his country was confident Australia would protect the security of its telecommunication networks.
'We have made no secret of our concerns about 5G, and we commend Australia for its leadership on the issue,' Mr Culvahouse said.
'We are not aware that Victoria has engaged in any concrete projects under BRI, let alone projects impinging on telecommunications networks, which we understand are a federal matter.
'We have every confidence that Australia, as a close ally and Five Eyes partner, would take every measure necessary to ensure the security of its telecommunications networks, as it has repeatedly done in the past.
Premier Daniel Andrews refused to respond to the comments from Mr Pompeo and claimed he had not seen them.
'With the greatest of respect, I'm not in the habit of commenting on what people tell me other people have said.
'I would want to see Secretary Pompeo's comments out of respect for him and his office before I make any comment on that.'
Mr Andrews defended the deal and said it was about the people of Victoria and securing jobs.
'On the broader issue, my position on these matters is very well known, very well understood: it is all about Victorian jobs,' he said.
'We will continue to work at a strong partnership. It doesn't mean we agree on everything, there are many things we don't agree on.
'But what I think all of us here and indeed both parts of our relationship – Victoria, Australia and China – surely we all have to concede and we all have to recognise that a strong partnership is in everybody's interests.'
What is the Belt and Road Initiative?
Unveiled in 2013 in Kazakhstan and Indonesia by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Belt and Road Initiative is the most ambitious infrastructure project in modern world history.
The multitrillion-dollar initiative involves hundreds of projects, most of them built by Chinese contractors and financed by loans from Chinese state-owned banks, across an arc of 65 countries from the South Pacific through Asia to Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping put their palms on a screen during a gas pipeline launching ceremony in Astana in 2013
The Belt and Road Initiative, essentially a Modern Silk Road, is made up of a 'belt' of six overland corridors that direct trade to and from China and a maritime 'road' of shipping routes and seaports from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean.
The initiative countries account for 40 per cent of global gross domestic product growth and 44 per cent of the world's population, according to an analysis from Morgan Stanley.
As of July 2018, more than 100 countries and international organisations had signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with China, extending the initiative's scope from the Eurasian continent to Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the South Pacific region.
The Chinese government calls the initiative 'a bid to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future'.
Other observes and critics, however, see it as a push for the country's position as a global economic power with a China-centered trading network while burying some countries under massive debt.
