Australia China is examining key port ownership: Report | Business and Economic News
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The Australian Defense Minister told the local newspaper that the government would look into national interests in its study.
Defense Minister Peter Dutton has confirmed that his department is investigating the ownership of a major strategic port used by a Chinese company as a base for the U.S. Navy.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s National Security Committee asked the defense department to advise the property, Dutton said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday night. Asked if the government is considering compulsory divestment, the minister said it will consider national interests.
The move is likely to escalate tensions between Australia and China’s largest trading partner, which since the Morrison government called in Beijing a year ago allowed independent researchers to study the origin of the coronavirus in Wuhan.
Security experts have criticized the agreement reached by the Northern Territory government in 2015 to sell a long-term lease to the port of Darwin to the Chinese company Landbridge Group. It came four years after President Barack Obama reached an agreement to base about 2,500 sailors on Darwin, which is on the shores of the Indo-Pacific.
China has thwarted Australia’s decision last month to use new laws to suspend Ring and Road agreements with the Victorian state government. There is growing speculation that Morrison may use the laws passed in December in the ports of Darwin and Newcastle to allow Chinese companies to lease long-term leases.
“If I have any advice from the Department of Defense or the intelligence agencies that suggests there are national security risks related to the port of Darwin, then you would expect the government to take such measures,” Morrison said. radio interview on Friday.
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