Australia Confirms Chinese Firm’s Port Lease as Relations Thaw
The Darwin Port in the Northern Territory city of Darwin.
Photographer: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images
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Australia said that a Chinese firm can continue to lease the port of Darwin in the north of the country, the latest sign of the thaw in bilateral relations ahead of the expected visit to Beijing by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The port was leased to China’s Landbridge Group Co. in 2015 for 99 years, but relations between the two nations nosedived after that, and Canberra announced in 2021 that the Department of Defence would probe the agreement and advise the government on what to do. Forcing the company to exit the lease was an option, but local media later reported that that review found no national security concerns.