Australia says no need to cancel Chinese lease of Darwin port

AUSTRALIA’S government said on Friday (Oct 20) it had decided against cancelling a Chinese company’s lease of the northern Port of Darwin after a review into the national security risks.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s centre-left government said it accepted the review’s finding that there was no need to cancel Chinese-owned Landbridge’s 99-year lease of the port, granted in 2015.

The report found a “robust” regulatory system and “sufficient” ongoing monitoring of risks to critical infrastructure, including the port, with no need to vary or cancel the lease.

“The government has accepted that advice,” the department of the prime minister and Cabinet said in a statement.

“Australians can have confidence that their safety will not be compromised, while ensuring that Australia remains a competitive destination for foreign investment.”

The northern Port of Darwin is the closest to Australia’s Asian neighbours.

It will also be the base for a light, easy-to-deploy army brigade envisaged as part of a military shake-up to shift Australia’s defence posture towards long-range deterrence.

Shortly after his Labor Party came to power in May 2022 elections, Albanese promised a review of Landbridge’s lease, which had reportedly blindsided close ally the United States when it was granted under the then-conservative government.

The decision not to cancel the lease comes at a time of apparently easing tensions between Beijing and Canberra, with China’s release this month of Australian journalist Cheng Lei from three years in detention, and its gradual relaxation of a series of punitive trade measures.

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Australia-China relations had been in deep freeze after Canberra barred Chinese tech firm Huawei from lucrative contracts, pushed back against Chinese influence campaigns and joined calls for an investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 outbreak.

In retaliation, China introduced a swathe of de facto sanctions against Australian products, measures that have been slowly unwound as relations thaw under the Albanese government.

Australian wine is one of the last major export commodities still squeezed by high Chinese tariffs, though the industry is hoping for a breakthrough in the weeks ahead. AFP