Australian PM: Proposed law allowing Canberra to nix local deals with foreign nations not directed at China
A law that would allow Canberra to cancel deals between local governments and foreign nations is not directed at China, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has claimed, amid a growing political and economic rift with Beijing.
The proposed legislation would give the federal government the authority to suspend any agreements that local authorities and public institutions make with foreign states.
If approved, the law could also be applied retroactively to dozens of such deals already on the books.
The bill comes as Australia and China quarrel over a growing list of economic and political disputes, but Morrison has insisted that Beijing is not in Canberra’s crosshairs.
“These laws are about Australia’s national sovereign interests,” Morrison said on Thursday. The pending new powers would grant the prime minister the ability to cancel any agreement which “adversely affects Australia’s foreign relations” or is found to be “inconsistent with Australian foreign policy.”