Thread: Why and how did the NT government lease the Port of Darwin to a Chinese firm ?

You can't do business in China without approval from the CPA.

Originally Posted by garrycol

That would have been the 80,000km wear guarantee on Cooper Tyres.

Cheers Ean

I raised this subject a couple of months ago & appeared to get howled down & that it was implied Ballcocks

How I chuckled when i logged on this a.m.

Originally Posted by Ean Austral

Didn't a Chinese company build the new ASIO building. Hello - and we are worried about spying from the port of Darwin..

Funny that there wasn't this much interest in 15/16 when it happened. I guess we are talking about something that happened in Darwin. I once got told I couldn't get warrenty on something because I wasn't in a capital city .

Cheers Ean

I posted this because of the article from the ABC show, curious Darwin. I often read these snippets of info about Darwin, they are interesting. Apparently many people have asked about Port Darwin. They investigated, and put together this story. Not politically motivated, just trying to answer some questions from worried Darwinites, I imagine. Spying from the Port is not even an issue. I have been following the Chinese story ever since the Silk Road project was announced. From the Naval Ports built in Pakistan,and Sri Lanka, The huge infrastructure investments in Africa, where the Chinese have Countries in so much debt the Chinese pull the strings, to massive investment/ proposed investment in the Pacific, including in Papua New Guinea. PNG is one place that caught the attention of the Federal government, and they got involved. It just blows my mind that our government quite rightly intervened in PNG, but apparently did not know about Port Darwin until the deal was done. Now, I don't care about what side of government it is, how could this be allowed to happen?

Taken in isolation Port Darwin is a storm in a teacup, no big deal, as some members point out. But viewed in a Global context, with all the information available about Chinese hegemony in every corner of the globe, it takes on a different look. And nothing to do with military involvement. Name me another so called first World Nation that would allow this to happen. There are just so many questions, and no one is answering them.

Originally Posted by Arapiles

In practice, how would the CCP secretly influence the management of the Port of Darwin in a way that was not in Australia's interests?

By applying for a $500 million loan from a Chinese government operated bank, using the Port as security. When the loan goes belly up, the Port comes under the control of the Chinese government. An old article, sure, but it answers your question. EDIT changed one word.

Refinancing of Port of Darwin raises fresh concerns over Chinese lease | Australia news | The Guardian

Originally Posted by bob10

By applying for a $500 million loan from a Chinese government operated bank, using the Port as security. When the loan goes belly up, the Port comes under the control of the Chinese government. An old article, sure, but it answers your question. EDIT changed one word.

Refinancing of Port of Darwin raises fresh concerns over Chinese lease | Australia news | The Guardian

Well, no: China EXIM isn't "the Chinese Government" any more than JBIC is the Japanese Government. But let's say that China EXIM did fund the refinance and was in fact a direct arm of the Chinese Communist Party and always did their bidding - in what practical way would this matter?

Originally Posted by Arapiles

That's really interesting. But if the US State Department had people at the meetings, how was it that they later claimed to not have known about it? Why didn't they raise it with their counterparts in Canberra? Sounds like someone really stuffed up.

Plus, agree with others that a Chinese company leasing a port is not the same as leasing a port to the PLA. Really don't see a problem with it, and the "article" never really explicitly sets out how it would be an issue.

After reading the original article Bob linked in his post , I wonder how accurate that reporting really is. Its a fair time ago now in the scheme of the running of the port and the amount of meetings I have attended , but I seem to recall the nightly news service up here reporting plenty of people from many different government departments including local , federal and foreign having plenty to say when it was all being proposed. Maybe interstate media outlets missed it.

Anyway its been and done, the money has been squandered , the NT is in recession and people and businesses are leaving in droves , so its been a failure on all fronts.

Cheers Ean

Originally Posted by bob10

Taken in isolation Port Darwin is a storm in a teacup, no big deal, as some members point out. But viewed in a Global context, with all the information available about Chinese hegemony in every corner of the globe, it takes on a different look. And nothing to do with military involvement. Name me another so called first World Nation that would allow this to happen. There are just so many questions, and no one is answering them.

The lease of the Port of Darwin is not related to the One Belt, One Road programme. It was a commercial lease at a commercial price. It does not put Australia in debt, so there is no leverage for the Chinese. The Port of Darwin is not strategically important but even if it was simply running the port is not a strategic threat. So what is there here that another country wouldn't allow to happen?