Michelle Chan
It is obvious that the Australia-China Belt and Road Initiative obtained a useful cover for its China antecedents when it received funding from DFAT (see story below). It is equally obvious that the Morrison Government ought to have taken steps to prevent if not curtail that funding. Morrison's national security adviser Michelle Chan (see photo and caption above) would have been the person responsible for the relevant advice.
Taxpayers have a right to know what she (or any other advisor) told Scott Morrison.
TO BE READ WITH
Adviser’s secret link to state’s agreement on Belt and Road
Daniel Andrews, left, with consultant Jean Dong, right, at an ACBRI event in Victoria.EXCLUSIVE
DAMON JOHNSTON
VICTORIA EDITOR
@damonheraldsun
RACHEL BAXENDALE
VICTORIAN POLITICAL REPORTER
@rachelbaxendale
7:05AM MAY 25, 2020
453 COMMENTS
A pro-Chinese company was promoting the Belt and Road Initiative to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews while at the same time being paid by the Andrews government to provide advice on the controversial investment and trade deal.
Mr Andrews’s office confirmed the Melbourne-based Australia-China Belt and Road Initiative company was awarded two taxpayer-funded contracts in 2017-18 and 2019-20 totalling $36,850 to advise on China’s global commercial play.
The organisation was set up by young former Chinese television journalist Jean Dong five years ago
Ms Dong, now 33, was present at the signing of the Australia-China free-trade agreement in 2015 and recruited former federal Liberal trade minister Andrew Robb and former Labor finance minister Lindsay Tanner to the company’s advisory board.
Scott Morrison on Sunday repeated the commonwealth’s opposition to Victoria signing on to the Belt and Road Initiative as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned any BRI project was designed to boost the power of the Chinese Communist Party.
The Andrews government conceded on Sunday it had breached disclosure rules in failing to report the expenditure on the consultancy, blaming an “administrative error”.
“The advice from ACBRI provided valuable insights into opportunities for Victoria arising from the BRI,” a government spokesman said. “An administrative error led to the first of the engagements not being published in the relevant department’s 2017-18 annual report. The second of the engagements will be reported … as scheduled.”
Departments are required to publish details of all $10,000-plus consultancies.
ACBRI has been heavily involved in promoting China’s Belt and Road Initiative to the Victorian government and business community, and in 2017 posted online that it had in May of that year been “appointed as a consultant unit by the Premier of Victoria”.
Mr Andrews spoke at one of ACBRI’s events, during which he talked enthusiastically about closer commercial ties between China and Victoria. Mr Pompeo — who has in the past said any country that signed up to BRI was “selling their soul” — said on Sunday that the China deal would come at an economic and security cost to Victorians.
“Every citizen of Australia should know that each one of those Belt and Road projects needs to be looked at incredibly closely,” he told Sky News. “That proposes real risk. Real risk to the people of that region, real risk to the country, and quite frankly it builds the capacity of the Chinese Communist Party to do harm.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Picture: AFPMr Pompeo admitted he did not know the full details of the Victorian deal, but said anything that affected the US would result in a disconnect from wider security co-operation with Australia.
“To the extent they have an adverse impact on our ability to protect telecommunications for our private citizens, or security networks for our defence and intelligence communities — we simply disconnect, we will simply separate,” he said.
Despite concerns about the Victorian BRI deal in Washington and Canberra, there are no telecommunications projects lined up and any would be blocked as it falls under the jurisdiction of the commonwealth.
US ambassador to Australia Arthur Culvahouse Jr later clarified the Secretary of State’s comments, saying Mr Pompeo had been asked to address a hypothetical question.
“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,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the Victorian Premier told The Australian the state government would not agree to any telecommunications projects under the China deal. She said the BRI was needed to boost jobs during the COVID-19 economic recovery.
In October 2018, Mr Andrews defied federal government security advice and signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese communist government to commit Victoria to joining its Belt and Road Initiative.
ACBRI chief executive Jean Dong, left, an event promoting Australia-China business opportunities.A spokeswoman for the Premier said: “The agreement is about creating opportunities for Victorian businesses and creating more local jobs — and we’re proud to work with the Australia-China Belt and Road Initiative.”
In a statement released to The Australian on Sunday, Ms Dong, ACBRI’s director, secretary and chief executive, said: “ACBRI is not involved in any formal process towards the Victorian government striking a Belt and Road Initiative agreement.
“We are an Australian advisory organisation funded by Australian businesses to advise on Belt and Road opportunities and developments for Australian businesses. In that capacity, we advised the Victorian government on BRI opportunities and current developments. That was the end of it.”
While Ms Dong played down ACBRI’s role in persuading Mr Andrews to sign the 2018 MOU and 2019 “framework agreement” the 33-year-old businesswoman has previously talked up the company’s involvement.
In an official website post linked to the Chinese consulate-general in Melbourne in May 2017, Ms Dong indicates ACBRI was involved in promoting the scheme’s benefits to the government.
The website post states: “In May this year (2017), the center (sic) (ACBRI) was appointed as a consultant unit by the premier of Victoria. The next step will be to assist the state government to sign a co-operation agreement with the National Development and Reform Commission and to set up the ‘belt and road initiative’ office. The center (sic) will be responsible for planning and implementing specific projects, and strive to make Victoria a model for Sino-Australian ‘belt and road initiative’ co-operation.”
The ACBRI website details the influential role played by Ms Dong in Australian-Chinese business and political circles.
“Jean was invited to meet with President Xi (Jinping) and other dignitaries. Jean was also invited by Minister Andrew Robb to witness the official signing of the ChAFTA in Canberra in June 2015,” the website says.
“With Jean’s responsibility and achievement of executing this MOU in 2015, Jean was recognised by Tasmanian government as one of the key people leading the growth of the Tasmania-China relationship in 2015 and invited to meet with the Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Consultative Conference and the Premier of Tasmania at the first anniversary of the visit to Tasmania by President Xi Jinping.”
Ms Dong said Mr Robb and Mr Tanner were not paid for their roles. She said the ACBRI was hired by the Victorian government to “provide guidance in developing business focus for the collaboration of Australian and Chinese expanded trade and investment”.
Ms Dong said the ACBRI did not receive any funding from the Chinese government, and was created with seed funding through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Victoria has found itself at the frontline of tensions between Australia and China because of the decision by Mr Andrews to sign up to the Belt and Road Initiative.
Last week, as Victoria was locked in the final weeks of negotiations with China to strike a final agreement on a BRI “investment road map”, due mid-year, Treasurer Tim Pallas slammed the Morrison government’s handling of Chinese relations.
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