Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton has declared that the country will not surrender its sovereignty to appease Beijing following outrage over the cancellation of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) agreement with Victoria. The comments come after the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson threatened retaliation if Australia did not wind back its decision. “We’re not going to have our values compromised. We aren’t going to surrender our sovereignty,” Dutton told Nine News on Friday. “We are standing up for who we are. We’ve got very important diplomatic relations with many countries, including China, but we aren’t going to be compromised by the principles of the Communist Party of China.” Dutton also took aim at the Chinese regime for its build-up of military bases in the South China Sea and for launching cyberattacks against Australia. “All of that is not the actions of a friend,” he said. “We need to make sure that …