Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

It is a matter of public record that the government's policy, under both the previous Prime Minister and me, has been not to sign up to the Belt and Road Initiative. We have not signed up to the Belt and Road Initiative. We never have; we never will. Where discrete projects have been pursued in parts of the world—which is the policy of those opposite, I note—where there has been co-investment in projects, that has occurred. But we have not signed up—and never will—to the Belt and Road Initiative.

I note that the reference is made to when I was last there in 2017 as part of the closer economic dialogue arrangements between our governments. Those dialogues have not occurred for many years. They have not occurred for many years, and a lot has happened in the last five years. Since then, Australia has been subject to economic cohesion by the Chinese government, and we have stood up to that more firmly than any other country almost anywhere in the world. But we note the bravery and courage of Lithuania, and we stand with the Lithuanians on those issues, and we've worked with other countries around the world to stand up to the economic coercion of the Chinese government, which has only been met with more retaliation on Australia.

I'm not the leader of the political party who was happy to trade away some coercion for other coercion. That's the Leader of the Labor Party. The Leader of the Labor Party is the Chinese government's pick at this election.

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