Australia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed during a weekend summit in Sydney to establish a regional infrastructure pipeline, Australia’s foreign minister said, as the bloc seeks to balance rising Chinese influence.
The project “will develop a pipeline of high-quality infrastructure projects, to attract private and public investment”, according to a statement from Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop issued on March 18.
Australia, the United States, India and Japan have been seeking to establish a regional alternative to China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road infrastructure scheme, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review last month that cited a senior U.S. official.
A spokeswoman for Bishop said on Monday the agreement was purely an ASEAN initiative and “not to counter China.”
Australia hosted the special ASEAN meeting, despite not being a member of the 10-nation bloc, looking to tighten political and trade ties in a region where Chinese presence is growing stronger.
A joint communique issued by Australia and ASEAN at the end of the meeting called for “self-restraint” in the South China Sea, where aggressive Chinese expansion has irked ASEAN members who also have territorial claims in the busy waterway.
“This is a security and stability question in Southeast Asia which will affect all ASEAN countries if it goes wrong,” Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told a news conference shortly after the communique was issued.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road plan is a vehicle for the world’s second-largest economy to take a greater role on the international stage by funding and building transport and trade links in more than 60 countries.
Xi has promoted the initiative heavily, inviting world leaders to Beijing last May for an inaugural summit at which he pledged $124 billion in funding for the plan, and enshrining it into the ruling Communist Party’s constitution in October.
Recommended Reading
Canadian Railway Companies Brace for Strike
2024-04-25 - A service disruption caused by a strike in May could delay freight deliveries of petrochemicals.
Enterprise’s SPOT Deepwater Port Struggles for Customers
2024-04-25 - Years of regulatory delays, a loss of commercial backers and slowing U.S. shale production has Enterprise Products Partners’ Sea Port Oil Terminal and rival projects without secured customers, energy industry executives say.
Report: Crescent Midstream Exploring $1.3B Sale
2024-04-23 - Sources say another company is considering $1.3B acquisition for Crescent Midstream’s facilities and pipelines focused on Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico.
For Sale? Trans Mountain Pipeline Tentatively on the Market
2024-04-22 - Politics and tariffs may delay ownership transfer of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, which the Canadian government spent CA$34 billion to build.
Energy Transfer Announces Cash Distribution on Series I Units
2024-04-22 - Energy Transfer’s distribution will be payable May 15 to Series I unitholders of record by May 1.