澳洲法律針對其各州與外國政府的交易

 Yesterday Yahoo News on line reported the following:

Australian Law to Target States’ Deals With Foreign Governments

Jason Scott

Bloomberg August 26, 2020, 5:30 a.m. PDT

(Bloomberg) -- A new Australian law is set to allow Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s federal government to force states and territories to cancel new or existing agreements with foreign governments, in a move that will be seen as ramping up tensions with China.

The legislation from Morrison’s conservative government will be introduced to parliament next week with the aim of being passed this year. It will cover a broad range of sectors, including infrastructure, trade cooperation, tourism, cultural collaboration, education including university research partnerships, science and health.

It comes after the Victorian state government signed a framework agreement last year to join Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, against the federal government’s wishes.

“Australians rightly expect the federal government they elect to set foreign policy,” Morrison said in a statement Wednesday. “These changes and new laws will ensure that every arrangement done by any Australian government at any level now lines up with how we are working to protect and promote Australia’s national interest.”

Morrison’s government has presided over an era of deepening tumult with China, his nation’s largest trading partner. Those relations deteriorated after Australia banned Huawei Technologies Co. from participating in its 5G network and passed a law to stem foreign interference that was seen as a response to China’s growing influence.

The new law will give the foreign minister the power to stop new and previously signed agreements between the eight states and territories and their entities, such as local governments and public universities, and foreign governments.

It excludes commercial corporations and state-owned enterprises. Some Australian defense experts objected when the strategic port in Darwin, used by the military of key ally the U.S., was leased to a Chinese company from the Northern Territory government in 2015.

In April, ties with China nosedived further after Morrison’s government raised Beijing’s ire by calling for an independent probe into the origins of the coronavirus. On Tuesday, a top Chinese diplomat told reporters in Canberra that China felt unfairly “singled out” by Australia’s push for the inquiry. In the briefing, deputy head of mission to Australia, Wang Xining, provided no clear answers to questions on whether Beijing’s subsequent trade sanctions on beef and barley exports were reprisals.

Public Register

The law will also enforce a public register to provide transparency to the decisions made by the foreign minister, with states and territories given six months to deliver a stock-take of their existing arrangements with foreign governments.

It’s the latest move by Morrison’s government to toughen foreign investment screening measures, citing the need to protect the national interest.

In June, the government announced it would seek to implement permanent tougher screening measures on foreign investors seeking to buy sensitive assets from Jan. 1. Yet to be legislated, the changes would see telecommunications, energy, technology and defense-manufacturing companies be included in the zero-dollar threshold for screening.

On Tuesday, China Mengniu Dairy Co. scrapped its plans to buy Kirin Holdings Co.’s Australian beverage unit after being told the deal would likely be blocked. Australia’s Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in a statement he’d informed the Chinese dairy giant he’d reached a preliminary view that the proposed purchase “would be contrary to the national interest.”

While China’s appetite for Australian resources such as iron ore and coal remains undimmed, it is only Australia’s ninth-largest foreign investor, comprising 2% of the A$3.8 trillion ($2.74 trillion) total at the end of 2019.

Translation

（彭博社）- 澳大利亞將製定一項新法律，以允許總理斯科特•莫里森（Scott Morrison）的聯邦政府強迫各州和地區取消與外國政府的新協議或現有協議，此舉將被視為加劇了與中國的緊張關係。

 莫里森保守黨政府的立法將在下週提交到議會，以期於今年通過。它將涵蓋廣泛的範疇，包括基礎設施，貿易合作，旅遊，文化合作，包括大學研究夥伴關係在內的教育，科學和衛生。

 這發生在於去年維多利亞州政府違反聯邦政府的意願，簽署了一項框架協議，加入北京的“一帶一路”倡議之後。

莫里森週三在一份聲明中說：“澳大利亞人有權期望他們選擇出的聯邦政府去制定外交政策。” “這些變化和新法律將確保任何澳大利亞政府在任何層次上所做的一切安排都與我們保護和促進澳大利亞國家利益的工作方式保持一致。”

莫里森政府與他的家最大的貿易夥伴國 - 中國 - 的爭吵不斷加深的時代當政。在澳大利亞禁止華為技術有限公司參與其5G網絡並通過一項法律以阻止外國干擾後，這被視為對中國日益增長的影響力的回應, 關係亦惡化了。

新法律將賦予外交部長權力阻止其八個州和地區及其實體, 例如地方政府和公立大學與外國政府之間新的和已簽署的協議。

它不包括商業公司和國有企業。 在2015年，關鍵盟國美國軍方使用中的達爾文戰略港口被北領地政府租給一家中國公司時，一些澳大利亞國防專家曾經表示反對。

在四月, 在莫里森政府呼籲對冠狀病毒的起源進行獨立調查之後激怒北京，與中國的關係再進一步向下。週二，一位中國高級外交官在坎培拉對記者說，中國對澳大利亞推動調查的要求感到不公平地"挑出來"。簡報中，訪澳副團長王西寧沒有就北京隨後對牛肉和大麥出口的貿易制裁是否是報復的問題提供明確答案。

公共登記冊

該法律還將執行一個公共登記冊，以使外交部長的決定更加透明，各州和領地將有六個月的時間去盤點與外國政府現有的安排。

這是莫里森政府以保護國家利益為理由，加強對外國投資篩選措施的最新舉措。

在6月，政府宣布將尋求對從1月1日起購買敏感資產的外國投資者實施永久性的更嚴格的篩選措施。立法尚未通過，此次變更將把電信，能源，技術和國防製造公司納入其零美元門檻篩選。

蒙牛乳業周二在被告知該交易可能被阻止之後，放棄了收購麒麟控股公司澳大利亞飲料業務的計劃。澳大利亞財政部長喬什·弗萊登伯格（Josh Frydenberg）在一份聲明中說，他已告知這家中國乳業巨頭，初步認為擬議中的收購“將違反國家利益”。

儘管中國對鐵礦石和煤炭等澳大利亞資源的需求沒有減弱，但它僅是澳大利亞的第九大外國投資者，佔2019年底3.8萬億澳元（2.74萬億美元）總額的2％。

              Australia is a member of the Five Eyes (FVEY), an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. It seems that in Asia, Australia is the only country dare to openly say “No” when facing the “bullying” from China.