The federal government has given Victoria until tomorrow (10 March) to explain why its Belt and Road Initiative deal with China should not be ripped up. Power to cancel the memorandum of understanding Victoria signed under China’s $US1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) Belt and Road Initiative now rests with Canberra under recent changes to the Foreign Relations Act. The coalition should not use those powers to cancel it. For a start, it would be hypocritical given the coalition via its then trade minister, Steven Ciobo, signed its own MoU as part of China’s BRI in 2017. The coalition has not renounced this MoU and instead offers the pretty feeble excuse that its MoU only covers cooperation with China on building infrastructure such as roads and bridges in third party countries.