The Vietnamese Community in Australia (VCA) has slammed Premier Daniel Andrews after details of a memorandum of understanding between China and Victoria recently emerged, linking the state to Beijing's controversial 'One Belt, One Road' initiative.
China’s 'One Belt, One Road' initiative is a policy created by President Xi Jinping aimed at improving the country's “connectivity” with the rest of the world.
It seeks to revive the ancient road and ocean network by creating two modern transit and trade corridors between China and Europe.
VCA President Bon Nguyen told SBS Mandarin that many in his community had "fled" from the Vietnamese Communist regime during the Vietnam War, and stood firmly against what he called "influence" from China in Australia.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping stands on a military jeep as he inspects troops in July 2017 Source: AAP
"Our community hold a view that we ran away from the Vietnamese Communist regime, therefore, we don't want the communist regime of any foreign source that I see to interfere our Australia," he said.
"China, at the moment, is very hostile towards neighbour countries in Asia. We have witnessed what happened to Tibetan people and what happened to Uyghur people.
"Regardless of our different background, we are all now living in Australia; we must protect the interest of Australia. I myself ran away from the Vietnamese Communist regime at the age of 11 with my parents."
The Victorian government's release came more than a month after the secretive deal was signed on October 8.
When it was announced on October 25, Premier Andrews said the agreement would benefit Victorians.
“We have a very strong, very important economic partnership that's all about jobs. It's all about more products being exported around the world,” Mr Andrews said.
“If we can, through the infrastructure work that China is involved in offshore, if we can be exporting skills as well as giving businesses the opportunities to share in all that work, then I think that's a good thing.”
The Vietnamese Community in Australia's Victorian Chapter forwarded a letter of protest to Mr Andrews after details of the memorandum of understanding went public.
Mr Nguyen said the organisation was informed by the government that a response to the letter would come following the Victorian state election on November 24.
"They will give it to the relative ministers after the election. If the premier so convincingly believes that [the memorandum] is going to benefit Victoria, why not make that a state issue?" Mr Nguyen said.
"We cannot have a secret deal with a government that always has a working mechanism that is non-transparent to its people and the rest of the world."
New Zealand is among 68 countries that have so far signed up to the project.
However, the federal government has decided Australia would not take part due to concerns over China's plans to expand its power in the region.
