In the midst of the first coronavirus lockdown, one of Daniel Andrews’ senior lieutenants walked into a room where public servants managing the government’s relations with China were sitting, and declared: “We need to get some positive stories up about the BRI! Find some!”
If the bureaucrats found some gold, Victorians were never told, because the “positive stories” were never sold to the public. Given the imprecise nature of the Belt and Road Initiative, it is possible the Andrews government didn’t promote them because they didn’t exist.
Last May, concern was taking hold within the Victorian government as the Premier’s BRI agreements were catching a dose of coronavirus, the pandemic which started in China.
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In 2019, Andrews believed breaking ranks with the federal government and signing up to the BRI was a global economic coup for a state. Billions would flow into Victoria, and jobs would boom, he predicted.
But by 2020, with COVID-19 sweeping the world, and growing fears of China’s expansionism, Andrews found himself out beyond the wire. Concerns about the real agenda of the communist regime’s global investment initiative were now front and centre.
As diplomatic tensions exploded between the Morrison Government and China, Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas made an astounding intervention to take the side of the communist dictatorship.
China’s condemnation of Australia’s decision to axe the Belt and Road agreement between Beijing and Victoria does not align with the Asian superpowers rhetoric when it comes to international meddling in its own internal matters.
He said the “vilification” of China by the Australian government was “dangerous, damaging and probably irresponsible”.
It emerged the next day, on the front page of The Australian, that the Pallas intervention came as Victoria was locked in critical final negotiations with Beijing to sign the next stage of the BRI.
The “framework agreement” underpinning the Victoria-China deal was signed by the Premier and Vice-Chairman Ning Jizhe of the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China on October 23, 2019.
The “framework agreement” had gone largely unnoticed. But in 2020, in the grip of the pandemic, it made extraordinary reading.
The “co-operation principles” in the nine-page agreement — entitled Jointly Promoting the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road — used exceptionally reverential language to mandate how Victoria should conduct its state-to-superpower relationship.
Article 1 states Victoria and China must: “Adhere to the principle of mutual consultation, joint efforts and shared benefits. Bearing the Silk Road spirit of peace, co-operation, openness, inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit.
“Adhere to the principles of business-dominated, market-orientated and government-guided.
“The governments of both sides should strengthen co-ordination and guidance, as well as policy support to ensure long-term and sustainable co-operation … stick to all-round co-operation … with a focus on pushing forward important areas and major projects that have a bearing on the long-term interests of the two sides.”
Andrews’ decision to side with Beijing can, in part, be explained by his longstanding close relations with the communist regime. For a progressive Labor leader, Andrews had spent years flirting with Beijing. In opposition, he toured the Great Wall and other sites. Then as premier, he inked the BRI deal.
With a dismissive wave of his hand, he set aside the brutality of the communist regime, compartmentalised the human rights abuses of the Uighurs and turned his back on the repression of the democratic protests in Hong Kong. This was all about investment and jobs, and nothing else mattered.
Adding to the intrigue of the Premier’s dealings with China was the emergence of a young Chinese-born self-proclaimed global influencer by the name of Jean Dong.
Dong, aged in her early 30s, who in 2011 was crowned the Miss Chinese Cosmos Pageant winner, had established the Australian China Belt and Road Initiative organisation and managed to get VIP access to the Premier to lobby him to sign the BRI.
In fact, he agreed to attend one of her promotional events. She had recruited former Liberal federal trade Minister Andrew Robb and former Labor Minister Lindsay Tanner to the organisation too.
And in taxpayer-funded contracts never fully explained, Andrews’ government paid Ms Dong’s company more than $36,000 to advise it on China’s global commercial play.
Ms Dong claimed, in a self-made YouTube promotional video, that she played a key role in getting Victoria to sign up as she embarked on what she described as her “journey of influence”.
Many questions about the BRI have been left unanswered by Andrews. While there is no shortage of Chinese links to some of the firms building the Premier’s major roads and tunnels,
the actual investment deals that would flow from the BRI were never detailed.
It is likely, the BRI memorandum of understanding and the later framework agreement were all about laying down the broad parameters of the China-Victoria relationship, and Andrews hoped this would be the first steps to billions of dollars.
For China, landing the Premier’s signature, may well have been the main game because signing a state-based leader delivered the communist regime a global diplomatic victory.
Victoria Editor
Melbourne
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2021-04-22 08:55:00Z
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