Australian lawmakers on Thursday passed legislation giving the federal government power to veto any deal reached with foreign states. The law is seen as targeting China, which was signed by the state of Victoria in South Australia in 2018 for President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative. “The policies and plans of Australia, the rules that we make for our country are set here in Australia according to our needs and interests,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra shortly after.
A few hours earlier, the US House of Representatives had passed legislation to delist foreign companies that do not adhere to US auditing standards, a move that could lead to Chinese companies, including giants such as Alibaba Group, Baidu Inc, and PetroChina, are thrown out of US exchanges if they do not allow US regulators to review their financial audits.
Chinese observers in New Delhi said the two laws seeking to curb Chinese influence were not a separate effort.
“It’s QUAD in action,” said one of them, referring to the informal group from Japan, Australia, the United States and India.
The foreign ministers of the four countries met in Japan in October over concerns about China’s attempts to show its muscles in its neighborhood, including India’s Ladakh region, the South China Sea and the East China Sea, and to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific based on government. of right and freedom of navigation
India has been involved in a clash with Chinese troops over their attempts to seize control of Indian territory along the Royal Line of Control for more than six months. The two armies even clashed in the Galwan Valley in June, resulting in casualties on both sides, but for the most part they have managed to keep the situation under control since then. Japan has been uncomfortable with China’s continued attempts to undermine Japan’s administration over the Senkaku Islands, the islets in the East China Sea claimed by Beijing that have pushed Tokyo to increase its defense budget to a record level and expand the defense cooperation.
Last month, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced a groundbreaking agreement on a defense pact with Australia that will allow reciprocal visits for training and operations. This pact is the first in 60 years to approve an agreement that allows foreign troops to operate in its territory.
“You can see a concerted effort from QUAD; the three middle powers – India, Australia and Japan – backed by a superpower – the United States – not only to reduce China’s influence in their respective countries but in their respective regions. Sometimes, much further, ”added the aforementioned official.
It was a reference to the visit of US Under Secretary of State Stephen E. Biegun to Bangladesh in October facilitated by New Delhi to reestablish ties and extend its support. Biegun was the first high-ranking American official in at least a decade to travel to Dhaka, a visit that was described as a great success. Authorities said an immediate consequence of the joint initiative was Dhaka’s reluctance to receive Defense Minister Wei Fenghe when he traveled to Kathmandu and Islamabad last week.
It was also in the context of the larger effort to contain China’s influence that New Delhi resumed diplomatic engagement with Nepal, sending senior officials to Kathmandu to repair relations with the Himalayan nation that had upset India over its controversial political map that it included Indian territory. Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali is expected to raise the level of engagement when he visits New Delhi later this month.
At the same time, India also sent National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to Colombo last week to reactivate the trilateral dialogue on maritime security cooperation with Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the face of Chinese attempts to intensify defense ties with smaller countries in the United States. the region.
Also read: China is to blame for a strong QUAD | Analysis
New Delhi had suspended this dialogue to expand maritime security cooperation in 2014 after its relations with the Maldives deteriorated under the previous regime of Abdulla Yameen, who was seen as operating under Chinese influence.
A few weeks earlier, India had gifted Myanmar, another neighboring country that has been under pressure from Beijing, a 3,000 INS Sindhuvir diesel-electric submarine. People familiar with the events have said that the move helped New Delhi gain an advantage over China, which is pushing its military equipment among neighboring countries.
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