Australia’s warm relationship with China has developed frostbite in the five short years since the deal was signed.
The federal government is considering scrapping a 99-year lease of Darwin’s port to a Chinese company, the latest point of tension in an increasingly chilly relationship between Canberra and Beijing.
The lease, signed in 2015, is between the Northern Territory government and Landbridge Group, a Chinese company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Back then it was criticised over national security implications, and drew a rebuke from former US president Barack Obama. Now, in a climate where national security concerns dominate the China relationship, the deal seems like a strange throwback to a simpler time — a time when ministers like Andrew Robb and Josh Frydenberg could pose for photos with CCP-aligned Chinese billionaires, and when the relationship with our biggest trading partner was dominated by economic optimism.
Read more about the Port of Darwin deal and Australia’s relationship with China…
Register your email address to get FREE access on a 21-day trial.
