China’s ambassador blasts Australia for ‘ethically questionable’ Port of Darwin lease
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Ambassador Xiao Qian warned Canberra to be careful after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed to bring the Port of Darwin, which is currently leased to a Chinese firm, back under Australian control.
The context: The 99-year Port of Darwin lease was awarded to Chinese company Landbridge in 2015, in what the Ambassador described as “an open and transparent bidding process, fully compliant with Australian laws and market principles,” in a statement published to the Chinese embassy’s website on Sunday. The statement was published after Xiao had travelled to Darwin and visited the port, meeting with Landbridge staff.
Xiao said: “Such an enterprise and project deserves encouragement, not punishment. It is ethically questionable to lease the port when it was unprofitable and then seek to reclaim it once it becomes profitable.”
Xiao called on the Northern Territory and federal governments to "honour its binding commitments" under the contract and "respect the autonomous decisions made by businesses made by development needs."
Awarding the lease of the strategically important port in the Northen Territory to Landbridge was criticised at the time by then US President Barack Obama. The port is situated close to a military training facility used by US marines.
During Australia’s recent election campaign, Albanese said that the government was working on a plan to buy back the port from its owners on national interest grounds, stating that the port should be “in Australian hands.” The Coalition had also pledged to get the port back into Australian hands. An April interview with the ABC saw Albanese state that he wanted to find new private owner if possible, but that “if it reaches a point where the Commonwealth needs to directly intervene, then we’d be prepared to do that.”
The sources: Xiao Qian statement, ABC, Bloomberg
