8chan/8kun QResearch Posts (33)
#25072253 at 2026-09-24 16:02:54 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #30614: Hold The Line || It is the only way. || Peace Is The Prize Edition
>>25072248
2/3
In Iran, a joint U.S.-Israeli operation killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei early on February 28, 2026, in his leadership compound in central Tehran. About 40 senior officials were killed with him, including armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi, IRGC commander Mohammad Pakpour, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, and adviser Ali Shamkhani. National security chief Ali Larijani was killed on March 17.
Before the war, China bought an estimated 1.4 million barrels of discounted Iranian oil per day. The conflict and U.S. restrictions sharply curtailed those shipments, cutting Chinese refiners off from much of their cheap Iranian crude. The loss of oil revenue and intensified U.S. sanctions helped drive Iran's foreign trade down 35 percent while inflation reached 66 percent, leaving the regime's economy in crisis.
Mojtaba Khamenei, Ali Khamenei's son and successor, was injured on the first day of the war. CNN reported that he suffered a fractured foot and facial lacerations. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said he was "wounded and likely disfigured", while a source familiar with U.S. intelligence assessments told Reuters that he may have lost a leg. The details remain unclear because Mojtaba has made no public appearance in more than six months. He did not attend his father's public funeral ceremonies in July, although his three brothers did. He governs through written statements, and Iranian authorities attribute his absence to security concerns.
On China chip policy, Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs, its most advanced chips, remain banned from export to China. On May 13, 2025, the Commerce Department warned that using Huawei Ascend chips could carry legal risks. It also issued guidance against allowing U.S. chips to train Chinese AI models or be diverted to China.
On January 13, 2026, Commerce began reviewing export license applications for the older Nvidia H200 and AMD MI325X chips case by case. On June 1, it clarified that licensing requirements cover all China-headquartered companies, including their overseas subsidiaries.
The United States also strengthened military and economic cooperation with Australia. A Pentagon review completed in December 2025 kept the AUKUS pact in place. In April 2026, the U.S. Navy awarded Electric Boat a $197 million contract, with options worth up to $930 million, to support the transfer of submarines to Australia. U.S. submarines are scheduled to begin rotating through HMAS Stirling, near Perth, in 2027. Australia will receive three used Virginia-class submarines, with the first arriving in 2032.
In October 2025, the two countries signed a critical-minerals framework providing at least $1 billion in joint financing and pledged to restrict Chinese purchases of new mining assets. Australia is also moving to reclaim Darwin Port, where about 2,500 U.S. Marines rotate each year, from Chinese-owned Landbridge. The company has held a 99-year lease since 2015 and filed an arbitration claim against Australia in April 2026.
The United States and the Philippines have been treaty allies since 1951 and have expanded military cooperation since 2025 to deter China. In April 2025, the U.S. deployed NMESIS missiles to the Philippines during the Balikatan exercises. On October 31, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro announced Task Force Philippines to counter Chinese coercion in the South China Sea.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/09/contrary-media-claims-u-s-global-position-is/
#24187722 at 2026-01-29 00:01:41 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #29476: This Is Not Chaos. It Is Choreography. Stay In Formation. Edition
China is flagging new economic sanctions for Australia if the Albanese government goes ahead with a plan to take back control of the Port of Darwin.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged during the 2025 federal election to return the port to Australian hands, despite it being under a 99?year lease to the Chinese company Landbridge.
Chinese ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said there had been talks between the two governments and that his nation was 'watching closely'.
'If anything happens, like the port will be taken back by force or forceful measures, then we have obligation to take measures to protect the Chinese company's issues. This is our position,' he said at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra on Wednesday.
'Should Landbridge be forced to leave that port, I think it might also affect the substantive investment co?operation trade between Chinese companies with that part of Australia.
'That is not in any interest of Australia.'
Mr Xiao said he hoped the situation would not get to a stage where 'the Chinese side has to do something'.
China last imposed trade sanctions on Australian products in 2020 after the previous Morrison government called for an inquiry into the COVID?19 pandemic.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15506999/Chinese-government-issues-terrifying-threat-Anthony-Albanese-not-Australia.html
#23396844 at 2025-07-29 03:31:53 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #28511: Zero Dark Snacktime Edition
>>23396784
The red mark is the port of Darwin
The corrupt Gov down there gave there
most Northern port to a CCP
Military linked company called Landbridge, what is in a name!
And Australia has been awash with drugs vapes tobacco you name it ever since
I wonder if this strike group are there for them?
Australia's government rolled over decades ago
#23326948 at 2025-07-14 23:20:38 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #28430: Moral Deficits Can Not Be Balanced With Money Edition
Australia is awash with Chinese tobacco, vapes, meth, fentanyl, oxy, x and they are bringing it all in through the port of Darwin. Which is run by CCP company Landbridge LAND BRIDGE got it?
Showdown over Aussie port looms ahead of Albanese, Xi meeting
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dismissed concerns that his government's bid to end Chinese ownership of the Port of Darwin could bring blowback from Beijing, as he prepares for a face-to-face meeting with China President Xi Jinping today.
Albanese will meet the Chinese leader as part of his week-long official visit to the country, during which he has focused largely on tourism and trade and touted his success at re-establishing stable relationships.
But the prime minister's election commitment to overturn the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to Chinese firm Landbridge, which has already sparked consternation in China, could become a sore point, along with other issues such as Australia's stance on Taiwan and Chinese live-fire exercises off the Australian coast.
Albanese yesterday said he did not expect any blowback from the issue.?
"We had a very clear position that we want the port to go into Australian ownership," he said.
"We've been clear about it, we've been orderly about it, and we will go through that process."
International affairs expert Professor James Curran? also said the idea China might resort to economic coercion on key Australian exports, including iron ore, was "laughable".
"I really don't think the Chinese will take that step. We know what China's economic coercion looks like in this country. Unfortunately, it did backfire on China," he told Today.
"They hit us on on six key export industries under the Morrison government. Now all of those are off at the moment.
"I would have thought that the Chinese do not want to get back into that kind of punitive trade behaviour at this particular time."
Curran queried the government's motivation over the issue, saying two previous reviews had concluded there was no serious strategic concern over the Land?bridge lease.
"The sensitivity is twofold. It's about Australia keeping critical infrastructure in Australian hands," he said.
"But I think it's also more about how close this port is to the US Marines that are rotating through Darwin each year.?"
https://www.9news.com.au/national/anthony-albanese-xi-jinping-meeting-beijing-china-port-of-darwin-ownership/8b08fe35-f9c4-4635-8117-ffea3f271f2d
#22886987 at 2025-04-09 04:22:19 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #27941: MAGAnolia Edition
Quick, send in Fang Fang
Chinese operator of Darwin port faces the boot
Sam Chambers April 8, 2025
Australia plans to scrap a Chinese company's lease on Darwin port.
The port concession in the far north of the country has become an election issue with both the government and the opposition vowing to buy back the port from its 99-year lease to Landbridge, a $370m deal that was signed 10 years ago.
The decision to scrap the port concession has been on the cards for more than a year, but it has drawn ire in Beijing.
"We urge the Australian side to provide a fair, non-discriminatory and predictable business environment for Chinese enterprises investing and operating in Australia, and refrain from overstretching the concept of national security or politicising normal business cooperation," a Chinese government spokesperson said yesterday.
https://splash247.com/chinese-operator-of-darwin-port-faces-the-boot/
#22319260 at 2025-01-09 02:20:48 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #27298: Full Throttle Kuun Edition
"President Trump is Correct when he said China Runs the Panama Canal.
President Carter's Treaty Signing in 1977, Which Turned Over Control of the Panama Canal on December 31, 1999, this Debacle Remains Being One of the Stupidest Things ANY American President has Done.
In 2016, in a $900 Million Deal, the China-Based Landbridge Group Acquired Control of the Margarita Island Port, Panama's Largest Port on the Atlantic Side in the Col?n Free Trade Zone.
This Established the Third (3) Set of Locks Through the Canal by Widening and Deepening the Navigation Channels. This Creates the Panama-Col?n Container Port (PCCP), a Deep-Water Port for MEGASHIPS, with the Construction/Expansion Lead by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), and the China Harbor Engineer Company (CHEC).
The Construction/Location of the PCCP has Since Allowed China to Exponential Expand it's Footprint in the Panama Canal to Include Project like the Amador Convention Center (Pacific Side of Canal), Various Water Management Projects, Numerous Energy Projects i.e. a $900 Million Natural Gas-Fired Electricity Generation Facility and Starting a Fourth Bridge Over the Panamanian Interoceanic Canal in 2018 as Part of the China Belt & Road Initiative. The 4th Bridge Project Slowed in 2020 Due to Covid, but Officially Resumed in June, 2023.
These Various Investments, to Include Port Terminals Made by Chinese Companies on both the East and West Sides of the Panama Canal Signal China's Intentions/Commitment to Fully Take Advantage this Infrastructure…"
https://xcancel.com/Kambeitz9/status/1877115188207317220#m
#22212505 at 2024-12-23 00:08:51 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #27180: More Presdential Appts - Eat Your Hearts Out, DEMS! Edition
>>22212325 lb/pb
>Guaranteed Trump's team went through the documents and negotiation that Carter signed, and there is a loophole to take it back.
The first, called the Neutrality Treaty, stated that the United States could use its military to defend the Panama Canal against any threat to its neutrality, thus allowing perpetual U.S. usage of the Canal.
https://www.state.gov/dipnote-u-s-department-of-state-official-blog/on-both-sides-of-the-canal-from-a-diplomatic-treaty-to-prosperous-relations-with-panama-2/
Carter negotiated two new treaties: 1. The United States would retain the right to defend the canal forever. 2. The Canal Zone would be turned over to Panama in 1979, and a transfer of the operation of the canal would be complete by 1999.
https://www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/the-panama-canal-the-ratification-of-the-carter-torrijos-treaties.htm
The United States remains the top user of the Canal-in 2019, 66 percent of the cargo traffic transiting the Canal began or ended its journey at a U.S. port; cargo from or destined to China made up 13 percent of Canal traffic. Still, China is the primary source of products going through the Col?n Free Trade Zone and its increasing presence in and around the Canal has made the waterway a flashpoint for U.S.-China competition over spheres of influence. China's influence in the Panama Canal has only grown since 2017 when then-president Carlos Varela severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognized China, further opening the door to China's expanded footprint in critical Canal infrastructure and laying the groundwork for alignment with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
In 2016, in a $900 million deal, the China-based Landbridge Group acquired control of Margarita Island, Panama's largest port on the Atlantic side and in the Col?n Free Trade Zone, the largest free trade zone in the Western Hemisphere.
Key Decision Point Coming for the Panama Canal
https://www.csis.org/analysis/key-decision-point-coming-panama-canal
#21684552 at 2024-09-30 18:08:41 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #26553: Monday Moabs N Dig Army At Ready Edition
Netanyahu's 'War On Seven Fronts': Expanded Attacks On Yemen, Syria, Central Beirut
Israel has been busy over the weekend striking multiple fronts. Not only has it expanded airstrikes on Beirut in the wake of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's Friday death, but it is attacking Yemen and Syria as well.
Starting late last week into Saturday, Yemen's Iran-linked Houthis announced the launch of several ballistic missiles toward Tel Aviv, which Israel's military said were intercepted. And on Friday, in an incident which went underreported (given headlines were focused heavily on Beirut events), three US warships in the Red Sea came under simultaneous rocket attacks from the Houthis.
"The Houthi said they had targeted three U.S. warships which media reports tonight are identifying as the guided missile destroyers USS Spruance and USS Stockdale and the littoral combat ship USS Indianapolis. They were reported to have been north of the Bab el-Mandeb at the time," The Maritime Executive reported.
"U.S. officials are confirming that warships in the Red Sea were targeted with possibly the largest barrage since the conflict began with the Houthis in Yemen nearly 10 months ago," the publication added.
On Sunday Israeli jets had the assistance of US military intelligence as they conducted a massive airstrike on Yemen's key port of Hodeidah. It happened in the early evening local time. Axios reports that "sensitive" Houthis facilities were on the target list.
Yemen's Health Ministry in the aftermath announced that at least four people were killed and 40 others injured in the Israeli raid, which left massive plumes of smoke over the area.
Israeli media has confirmed that it was the biggest Israeli strike on Yemen since the conflict began in the wake of Oct.7 of last year. "Dozens of Israeli aircraft, including F-15I fighter planes, participated in the operation, striking 1,800 kilometers from Israeli territory after the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles on the Tel Aviv and central Israel areas in recent weeks, including one on Saturday," Jerusalem Post details.
During Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Friday United Nations speech, the Israeli leader said his country is fighting a war on seven fronts. He brought props, as has been his pattern at major UN speeches:
The Israeli leader explained "the blessing" was establishing a "Landbridge" from India to Israel. The blessing requires Saudi Arabia to enter the Abraham Accords and normalize ties with Israel. Netanyahu claimed that would have happened, but the October 7 Hamas attack prevented the deal.
In the map titled "the curse," five countries were represented in black: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. The Israeli leader claimed that Tehran was working to eliminate Tel Aviv using its allies in the region. Netanyahu presented the conflict as a battle between forces of civilization against barbarism.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/netanyahus-war-seven-fronts-massive-new-attacks-yemen-syria-central-beirut
#17630970 at 2022-10-04 16:18:12 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #21618: Spooky Action At A Distance eBake Edition
>>17630750
Before Rome, before the current Sea levels, all roads led to Malta. It was the city that taxed and governed trade along the Landbridge from Africa to Europe. Much like the pirates who governed land trade between the Jordan Rift Valley and the Sea…in what we now call Israel/Palestine.
#17456445 at 2022-08-28 23:02:58 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #21396: Honk then, wherever you may be Edition
What bullshit no Aus port should be in foreign hands let alone a CCP linked company
Chinese-owned company Landbridge rejects 'myths and mistruths' about Darwin Port lease
The company that holds the 99-year lease of Darwin Port says it has been the subject of unwarranted concerns and has hit back at "mistruths", insisting the Chinese government has no influence over its operations.
Key points:
Landbridge is owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, who paid $506 million for the lease
The Prime Minister says the firm is "connected very directly" with the Chinese government
Landbridge says it's in partnership with the NT government, which has a stake in the lease
The port - which is considered the most strategic maritime asset in northern Australia - was controversially leased to Chinese-owned company, Landbridge, in 2015.
Amid ongoing tensions between Australia and China, the federal government is reviewing the $506 million deal, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week reiterating some of his concerns.
"People would be aware that it was leased out to a company connected very directly with the government of the People's Republic of China," Mr Albanese said.
But in an interview with the ABC, Landbridge said that just because the company is owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, that does not mean it is subject to Chinese government control.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-29/darwin-port-nt-Landbridge-rejects-chinese-influence-claims/101379670
Aus state media running cover up stories
#17425282 at 2022-08-22 01:05:08 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #21356: Watch OUT for Land Sharks, Prez Bidan!!! Edition
National security review of Darwin Port to remain secret, but Defence releases 'talking points'
A national security review of a Chinese-owned company's lease of Darwin Port will remain secret, after the Defence Department refused a Freedom of Information request for its findings.
Key points:
In 2015, the NT government leased the port to Landbridge for 99 years in a $506 million deal
Last year, the Coalition asked Defence to assess national security implications of the lease
The findings were never publicly released, and Labor has now commissioned its own review
Instead, a series of "talking points" given to the former Coalition government have been released, shedding light on the range of questions it expected to face, and how they should be answered.
Chinese-owned company Landbridge signed a 99-year lease for the strategically important asset in 2015, prompting security concerns about the $500 million arrangement.
In May last year - amid escalating tensions with the Chinese government - the then defence minister Peter Dutton confirmed the National Security Committee of Cabinet had tasked his department with providing new security advice, and assessing the implications of the controversial lease.
Seven months later, in late December, media reports suggested Defence had identified no concerns sufficient to revoke the lease.
However, the review was never publicly released.
The ABC sought access to the review following the election of the Labor government in May this year.
But Defence has refused to release 10 documents that fell within the scope of the request, including two "risk assessments" conducted in 2021 and a "presentation" prepared in February this year.
Defence said the material was exempt because it had been created for cabinet.
It said it had consulted with the Department of Prime Minister and cabinet, which supported its decision.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-22/nt-darwin-port-foi/101354854
#15713908 at 2022-02-24 23:48:18 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19869: Protect and Comfort those around you Edition
400000ft
CONSPIRATORS' HIERARCHY: THE STORY OF THE COMMITTEE OF 300
https://www.cia.gov/library/abbottabad-compound/4A/4A92FD2FB4DAE3F773DB0B7742CF0F65_Coleman.-.CONSPIRATORS.HIERARCHY.-.THE.STORY.OF.THE.COMMITTEE.OF.300.R.pdf
Blinken: "International rules-based order" - Chatham-House
https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/London%20Conference%202015%20-%20Background%20Papers.pdf
Released NATO Military Documents Classify COVID Lockdowns As 'Hostage Situation' - Captives Advised To 'Comply'
https://www.nato.int/docu/colloq/w970707/p6.pdf
How World Economic Forum Infiltrates Governments And Installs Its Members As Leaders
https://eraoflight.com/2022/02/23/how-world-economic-forum-infiltrates-governments-and-installs-its-members-as-leaders/
Revealed: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters and corrupt politicians
Massive leak reveals secret owners of ?80bn held in Swiss bank
Whistleblower leaked bank's data to expose 'immoral' secrecy laws
Clients included human trafficker and billionaire who ordered girlfriend's murder
Vatican-owned account used to spend ?350m in allegedly fraudulent investment
Scandal-hit Credit Suisse rejects allegations it may be 'rogue bank'
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/feb/20/credit-suisse-secrets-leak-unmasks-criminals-fraudsters-corrupt-politicians
"Suisse Secrets": Massive Leak Of Credit Suisse Bank Records Exposes $100 Billion Held By 18,000 Spies, Strongmen And Criminals
https://www.occrp.org/en/suisse-secrets/credit-suisse-opened-accounts-for-serbian-drug-lord-known-as-misha-banana
King hid personal wealth in Credit Suisse accounts - media
Leaked data from the Swiss bank show King of Jordan Abdullah II placed his personal funds in at least six accounts
https://www.rt.com/news/550148-king-abdullah-jordan-credit-suisse/
Leading Taiwan Politician Had Secret Credit Suisse Account At Time Of Major Defense Corruption Scandal
https://www.occrp.org/en/suisse-secrets/leading-taiwan-politician-had-secret-credit-suisse-account-at-time-of-major-defense-corruption-scandal
Obama-era Russian Uranium One deal: What to know
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II06/20190625/109694/HHRG-116-II06-20190625-SD004.pdf
The Next Step For The World Economic Forum
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-next-step-for-the-world-economic-forum/
A US military asset currently under construction will be linked via a fuel pipeline to the controversial Port of Darwin, raising more national security concerns about the wharf controlled by Chinese company Landbridge. CCP connected
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-21/us-military-asset-link-port-of-darwin-Landbridge/100847070
Britain & Australia's Grab for Resources in Afghanistan
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/02/22/britain-australias-grab-for-resources-in-afghanistan/
A royal charity that has none other than the Queen as its patron spent a whopping 98% of the money it raised in 12 months on salaries for its 10 employees, the Daily Mail claims.
https://www.rt.com/news/550141-royal-charity-spends-98-percent-staff-salaries/
Pharmaceuticals Have Polluted Almost All Rivers Of The World Finds Major UK Study
https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/81884/pharmaceuticals-have-polluted-almost-all-rivers-of-the-world-finds-major-uk.html
As UN SG Guterres Covers Up UN Sex Abuse in CAR He Decries Arrests On Procedural Grounds
http://www.innercitypress.com/unprs78aguterrescoversrapes022322.html
#15681803 at 2022-02-21 13:59:57 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19829: TruthSocial.com - Follow the Truth Edition
#19827
>>15680311 U.S. Military Vaccine Mandates Only Cover "FDA-Approved" Jabs Which Are NOT Available -substack.com us military
>>15680331, >>15680346, >>15680366, >>15680409, >>15680518, >>15680565 Truth Social is live - screen shots and attempts to get started
>>15680774, >>15680781, >>15680987 Truth Social - users report long wait times to get on
>>15680523 Canadian videos, twats, articles and moar
>>15680538 Bernie Madoff's sister and her husband dead in suspected murder-suicide: cops - nyp
>>15680603, >>15680608, >>15680616, >>15680622, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's underage accuser was much younger at the time of their relationship - buffalochronicle (trudeau father settled out of court, minor below 17, article 2019) use discernment
>>15680678 Hundreds of Dead Birds Wash Ashore Mysteriously on Danish Coast - sputnik news
>>15680732 Boris Johnson refuses 17 times to answer questions about Downing Street parties - twat
>>15680768 Veterans Reaction to Tom MacDonald & Adam Calhoun "New World Order"
>>15680791 Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters and corrupt politicians
>>15680834, >>15680876, >>15680851 Music mogul Jamal Edwards, dead at 31
>>15680893 Joe Rogan is now no Rogan (dead on Spotify) - but NO, he's back >>15681037
>>15680901, >>15680911 John Podesta/Christopher Ruddy (Newsmax) email
>>15680971 Winter Olympics: Finnish cross-country skier suffers frozen penis in 50km race
>>15681011 250,000 Young Nigerians Undergoing Sexual Labour Exploitation in Mali
>>15681016 GrapheneOS review | 3 weeks with a DeGoogled Phone
>>15681034 #19827
#19826
>>15679512 The Greatest Statistical Anomoly Witnessed
>>15679540 El Salvador trolls Biden Intel Team
>>15679546 CDC Officials Admit Agency Has Withheld Critical Covid Information
>>15679549 Clock prelude for Dark to Light - tomorrow reference 1:07 ? Truth Social Launch
>>15679560 US military asset to be linked to wharf controlled by Chinese company Landbridge
>>15679642 Planefag - CFC3194 Canadian MIL leaving California
>>15679603, >>15679629 Sandy Hook case gets gun money through Liberal Courts
>>15679582 Potato cries, "Uncle" and will meet with Putin
>>15679679, >>15679843, >>15679673 KLAUS SCHWAB Question CANCELLED in CANADIAN Parliament
>>15679714 Anons report Truth Social live
>>15679778 Notetaker Bun
>>15679853 Over $200,000,000 worth of NFTs have been stolen from OpenSeavia an email phishing hack
>>15679863 RCMP thug who joked about trampling an elder with a horse identified
>>15680035 More on deceased Ambassador Francesca Tardioli, Deputy Secretary General from NATO Operations
>>15680230 First bat falcon spotted in U.S. recorded history seen in Texas?
>>15680246 #19826
Previously Collected
>>15677927 #19823, >>15678687 #19824, >>15679479 #19825
>>15675548 #19820, >>15676381 #19821, >>15677177 #19822
>>15673149 #19817, >>15673908 #19818, >>15674744 #19819
>>15670808 #19814, >>15671586 #19815, >>15672384 #19816
>>15668333 #19811, >>15669105 #19812, >>15670008 #19813
General Notable Pins: https://ghostbin.com/14ehq
TripCode feed: https://8kun.top/qresearch/tripcode.xml
Aggregators: https://qnotables.com | https://anontimes.com/
>>15406645 Notables #11: Never Back Down!
#15681043 at 2022-02-21 09:43:36 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19828: Truth Social is LIVE Edition
GLOBALS
>>15487554 How get get bans lifted & do bug reports on /tech/
>>15443568 HOW TO BAKE Thread
>>15568669 Bakers - how to format notable buns (including two-post buns)
>>15620842 Guidelines for General banners
>>15676854 Bakers: no board politics go into in notables NEW
>>15676745 Jim W is working on the mp4 problem NEW
NOTABLES ARE NOT ENDORSEMENTS
#19827
>>15680311 U.S. Military Vaccine Mandates Only Cover "FDA-Approved" Jabs Which Are NOT Available -substack.com us military
>>15680331, >>15680346, >>15680366, >>15680409, >>15680518, >>15680565 Truth Social is live - screen shots and attempts to get started
>>15680774, >>15680781, >>15680987 Truth Social - users report long wait times to get on
>>15680523 Canadian videos, twats, articles and moar
>>15680538 Bernie Madoff's sister and her husband dead in suspected murder-suicide: cops - nyp
>>15680603, >>15680608, >>15680616, >>15680622, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's underage accuser was much younger at the time of their relationship - buffalochronicle (trudeau father settled out of court, minor below 17, article 2019) use discernment
>>15680678 Hundreds of Dead Birds Wash Ashore Mysteriously on Danish Coast - sputnik news
>>15680732 Boris Johnson refuses 17 times to answer questions about Downing Street parties - twat
>>15680768 Veterans Reaction to Tom MacDonald & Adam Calhoun "New World Order"
>>15680791 Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters and corrupt politicians
>>15680834, >>15680876, >>15680851 Music mogul Jamal Edwards, dead at 31
>>15680893 Joe Rogan is now no Rogan (dead on Spotify) - but NO, he's back >>15681037
>>15680901, >>15680911 John Podesta/Christopher Ruddy (Newsmax) email
>>15680971 Winter Olympics: Finnish cross-country skier suffers frozen penis in 50km race
>>15681011 250,000 Young Nigerians Undergoing Sexual Labour Exploitation in Mali
>>15681016 GrapheneOS review | 3 weeks with a DeGoogled Phone
>>15681034 #19827
#19826
>>15679512 The Greatest Statistical Anomoly Witnessed
>>15679540 El Salvador trolls Biden Intel Team
>>15679546 CDC Officials Admit Agency Has Withheld Critical Covid Information
>>15679549 Clock prelude for Dark to Light - tomorrow reference 1:07 ? Truth Social Launch
>>15679560 US military asset to be linked to wharf controlled by Chinese company Landbridge
>>15679642 Planefag - CFC3194 Canadian MIL leaving California
>>15679603, >>15679629 Sandy Hook case gets gun money through Liberal Courts
>>15679582 Potato cries, "Uncle" and will meet with Putin
>>15679679, >>15679843, >>15679673 KLAUS SCHWAB Question CANCELLED in CANADIAN Parliament
>>15679714 Anons report Truth Social live
>>15679778 Notetaker Bun
>>15679853 Over $200,000,000 worth of NFTs have been stolen from OpenSeavia an email phishing hack
>>15679863 RCMP thug who joked about trampling an elder with a horse identified
>>15680035 More on deceased Ambassador Francesca Tardioli, Deputy Secretary General from NATO Operations
>>15680230 First bat falcon spotted in U.S. recorded history seen in Texas?
>>15680246 #19826
#19825
>>15678754 Digs on Donbass, Ukraine and US Involvement
>>15678785 [Resident] Joe Biden has agreed "in principle" to a meeting with Putin as long as Russia does not further invade Ukraine
>>15678857, >>15679011 Anon opine - People with frozen accounts are being used as scapegoats
>>15678870, >>15679352 Possible sonic weapon (LRAD) on the ground in Canada?
>>15678905 Dan's Truth post. Notice the logo. TruthSocial starts with Q
>>15678901, >>15678908, >>15678915 Discussion of Findings on Flawed Study Showing "Ron W is Q"
>>15678891, >>15678922, >>15678929 The model, Karen Mulder, on the cover of George's February 1997 was abused by Jean-Luc Brunel
>>15678958 3rd Infantry Division - Our Division Artillery Dogface Soldiers recently practiced driving their tactical vehicles in both daylight and nighttime
>>15679001, >>15679161, >>15679262 Statement by DJT on the harassment of his accounting firm by Cabal DA's and AG's
>>15678983 Should the public be made aware of the reasons for the change in HIV testing policies?
>>15679353 Democrat Abby Broyles US House candidate under fire for alleged boozy, profanity-laced tirade at pre-teen slumber party
>>15679394 Clock: 2/22/2022, 1776 & Ruler of the Underworld
>>15679371 CDC Officials Admit Agency Has Withheld Critical Covid Information From the Public Over Fears of "Vaccine Hesitancy"
>>15679479 #19825
Previously Collected
>>15677927 #19823, >>15678687 #19824
>>15675548 #19820, >>15676381 #19821, >>15677177 #19822
>>15673149 #19817, >>15673908 #19818, >>15674744 #19819
>>15670808 #19814, >>15671586 #19815, >>15672384 #19816
>>15668333 #19811, >>15669105 #19812, >>15670008 #19813
General Notable Pins: https://ghostbin.com/14ehq
TripCode feed: https://8kun.top/qresearch/tripcode.xml
Aggregators: https://qnotables.com | https://anontimes.com/
>>15406645 Notables #11: Never Back Down!
#15680276 at 2022-02-21 05:58:13 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19827: Our Faith Can Move Mountains Edition
GLOBALS
>>15487476 Reporting CP & other illegal content
>>15487554 How get get bans lifted & do bug reports on /tech/
>>15443568 HOW TO BAKE Thread
>>15568669 Bakers - how to format notable buns (including two-post buns)
>>15620842 Guidelines for General banners
>>15657172 Plz check the sauce re reports on Russian aggression in Ukraine - could be propaganda
>>15676854 Bakers: no board politics go into in notables NEW
>>15676745 Jim W is working on the mp4 problem NEW
NOTABLES ARE NOT ENDORSEMENTS
#19826
>>15679512 The Greatest Statistical Anomoly Witnessed
>>15679540 El Salvador trolls Biden Intel Team
>>15679546 CDC Officials Admit Agency Has Withheld Critical Covid Information
>>15679549 Clock prelude for Dark to Light - tomorrow reference 1:07 ? Truth Social Launch
>>15679560 US military asset to be linked to wharf controlled by Chinese company Landbridge
>>15679642 Planefag - CFC3194 Canadian MIL leaving California
>>15679603, >>15679629 Sandy Hook case gets gun money through Liberal Courts
>>15679582 Potato cries, "Uncle" and will meet with Putin
>>15679679, >>15679843, >>15679673 KLAUS SCHWAB Question CANCELLED in CANADIAN Parliament
>>15679714 Anons report Truth Social live
>>15679778 Notetaker Bun
>>15679853 Over $200,000,000 worth of NFTs have been stolen from OpenSeavia an email phishing hack
>>15679863 RCMP thug who joked about trampling an elder with a horse identified
>>15680035 More on deceased Ambassador Francesca Tardioli, Deputy Secretary General from NATO Operations
>>15680230 First bat falcon spotted in U.S. recorded history seen in Texas?
>>15680246 #19826
#19825
>>15678754 Digs on Donbass, Ukraine and US Involvement
>>15678785 [Resident] Joe Biden has agreed "in principle" to a meeting with Putin as long as Russia does not further invade Ukraine
>>15678857, >>15679011 Anon opine - People with frozen accounts are being used as scapegoats
>>15678870, >>15679352 Possible sonic weapon (LRAD) on the ground in Canada?
>>15678905 Dan's Truth post. Notice the logo. TruthSocial starts with Q
>>15678901, >>15678908, >>15678915 Discussion of Findings on Flawed Study Showing "Ron W is Q"
>>15678891, >>15678922, >>15678929 The model, Karen Mulder, on the cover of George's February 1997 was abused by Jean-Luc Brunel
>>15678958 3rd Infantry Division - Our Division Artillery Dogface Soldiers recently practiced driving their tactical vehicles in both daylight and nighttime
>>15679001, >>15679161, >>15679262 Statement by DJT on the harassment of his accounting firm by Cabal DA's and AG's
>>15678983 Should the public be made aware of the reasons for the change in HIV testing policies?
>>15679353 Democrat Abby Broyles US House candidate under fire for alleged boozy, profanity-laced tirade at pre-teen slumber party
>>15679394 Clock: 2/22/2022, 1776 & Ruler of the Underworld
>>15679371 CDC Officials Admit Agency Has Withheld Critical Covid Information From the Public Over Fears of "Vaccine Hesitancy"
>>15679479 #19825
#15680246 at 2022-02-21 05:53:17 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19826: Who Are Q? Who Who Who Who? Edition
>>15679508 Dough
#19826 FINAL
>>15679512 The Greatest Statistical Anomoly Witnessed
>>15679540 El Salvador trolls Biden Intel Team
>>15679546 CDC Officials Admit Agency Has Withheld Critical Covid Information
>>15679549 Clock prelude for Dark to Light - tomorrow reference 1:07 ? Truth Social Launch
>>15679560 US military asset to be linked to wharf controlled by Chinese company Landbridge
>>15679642 Planefag - CFC3194 Canadian MIL leaving California
>>15679603, >>15679629 Sandy Hook case gets gun money through Liberal Courts
>>15679582 Potato cries, "Uncle" and will meet with Putin
>>15679679, >>15679843, >>15679673 KLAUS SCHWAB Question CANCELLED in CANADIAN Parliament
>>15679714 Anons report Truth Social live
>>15679778 Notetaker Bun
>>15679853 Over $200,000,000 worth of NFTs have been stolen from OpenSeavia an email phishing hack
>>15679863 RCMP thug who joked about trampling an elder with a horse identified
>>15680035 More on deceased Ambassador Francesca Tardioli, Deputy Secretary General from NATO Operations
>>15680230 First bat falcon spotted in U.S. recorded history seen in Texas?
#19826
#15680186 at 2022-02-21 05:42:13 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19826: Who Are Q? Who Who Who Who? Edition
>>15679508 Dough
#19826 Last Call
>>15679512 The Greatest Statistical Anomoly Witnessed
>>15679540 El Salvador trolls Biden Intel Team
>>15679546 CDC Officials Admit Agency Has Withheld Critical Covid Information
>>15679549 Clock prelude for Dark to Light - tomorrow reference 1:07 ? Truth Social Launch
>>15679560 US military asset to be linked to wharf controlled by Chinese company Landbridge
>>15679642 Planefag - CFC3194 Canadian MIL leaving California
>>15679603, >>15679629 Sandy Hook case gets gun money through Liberal Courts
>>15679582 Potato cries, "Uncle" and will meet with Putin
>>15679679, >>15679843, >>15679673 KLAUS SCHWAB Question CANCELLED in CANADIAN Parliament
>>15679714 Anons report Truth Social live
>>15679778 Notetaker Bun
>>15679853 Over $200,000,000 worth of NFTs have been stolen from OpenSeavia an email phishing hack
>>15679863 RCMP thug who joked about trampling an elder with a horse identified
>>15680035 More on deceased Ambassador Francesca Tardioli, Deputy Secretary General from NATO Operations
#19826
#15680055 at 2022-02-21 05:12:24 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19826: Who Are Q? Who Who Who Who? Edition
>>15679508 Dough
#19826 @500
>>15679512 The Greatest Statistical Anomoly Witnessed
>>15679540 El Salvador trolls Biden Intel Team
>>15679546 CDC Officials Admit Agency Has Withheld Critical Covid Information
>>15679549 Clock prelude for Dark to Light - tomorrow reference 1:07 ? Truth Social Launch
>>15679560 US military asset to be linked to wharf controlled by Chinese company Landbridge
>>15679642 Planefag - CFC3194 Canadian MIL leaving California
>>15679603, >>15679629 Sandy Hook case gets gun money through Liberal Courts
>>15679582 Potato cries, "Uncle" and will meet with Putin
>>15679679, >>15679843, >>15679673 KLAUS SCHWAB Question CANCELLED in CANADIAN Parliament
>>15679714 Anons report Truth Social live
>>15679778 Notetaker Bun
>>15679853 Over $200,000,000 worth of NFTs have been stolen from OpenSeavia an email phishing hack
>>15679863 RCMP thug who joked about trampling an elder with a horse identified
>>15680035 More on deceased Ambassador Francesca Tardioli, Deputy Secretary General from NATO Operations
#19826
#15679800 at 2022-02-21 04:27:37 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19826: Who Are Q? Who Who Who Who? Edition
>>15679508 Dough
#19826 @250
>>15679512 The Greatest Statistical Anomoly Witnessed
>>15679540 El Salvador trolls Biden Intel Team
>>15679546 CDC Officials Admit Agency Has Withheld Critical Covid Information
>>15679549 Clock prelude for Dark to Light - tomorrow reference 1:07 ? Truth Social Launch
>>15679560 US military asset to be linked to wharf controlled by Chinese company Landbridge
>>15679642 Planefag - CFC3194 Canadian MIL leaving California
>>15679603, >>15679629 Sandy Hook case gets gun money through Liberal Courts
>>15679582 Potato cries, "Uncle" and will meet with Putin
>>15679679 KLAUS SCHWAB Question CANCELLED in CANADIAN Parliament
>>15679714 Anons report Truth Social live
#19826
#15679778 at 2022-02-21 04:23:02 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19826: Who Are Q? Who Who Who Who? Edition
Note Taker Bun @ about 235
>>15679613 Updated Dough https://controlc.com/7918d76f
>>15679512 The Greatest Statistical Anomoly Witnessed
>>15679540 El Salvador trolls Biden Intel Team
>>15679546 CDC Officials Admit Agency Has Withheld Critical Covid Information
>>15679549 Clock prelude for Dark to Light - tomorrow reference 1:07 → Truth Social Launch
>>15679560 US military asset to be linked to wharf controlled by Chinese company Landbridge
>>15679582 Potato cries, "Uncle" and will meet with Putin
#15679560 at 2022-02-21 03:40:39 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19826: Who Are Q? Who Who Who Who? Edition
US military asset to be linked to controversial Port of Darwin via fuel pipeline
A US military asset currently under construction will be linked via a fuel pipeline to the controversial Port of Darwin, raising more national security concerns about the wharf controlled by Chinese company Landbridge. CCP connected
Work on the $270 million East Arm fuel storage facility began last month and, by late next year, it is expected to be able to hold 300 million litres of fuel, supporting the expansion of American military presence in the Northern Territory and Indo-Pacific.
The previously unreported link comes amid heightened tensions between Beijing and Canberra, and as the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader openly criticise the port's $506 million lease and consider whether it should be cancelled.
Construction of the fuel farm is being managed by the Florida-based company Crowley Solutions.
Its vice-president, Sean Thomas, said that military fuel would be dispensed and collected through the Port of Darwin.
"We will have a pipeline connecting our facility to the petroleum, oils and lubricants berth at the port, at which ships employed by the US government will either take receipt of fuel or issue fuel into the facility," Mr Thomas said.
Labor senator Kimberley Kitching said that was a concern, as it could give a Beijing-linked company access to sensitive military activity, such as the storage of military fuel.
There is no publicly available evidence so far that operations could be observed by foreign officials at the port nor that sensitive information could be passed back to the Chinese government, but there are bipartisan concerns that that is possible.
"If Landbridge remains in ownership of the Port of Darwin, then there [will be] fuel pipelines that are necessary for the refuelling of US and allied ships," said Senator Kitching, who chairs the Senate's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee.
"Obviously, they would have access to them. That is a problem. If you are going to be pumping fuel and a situation develops, there might be a strategic issue.
"No one expected a Chinese navy ship in recent days to use a military laser to target and Australian defence plane. We just don't know what is going to happen."
Landbridge has previously insisted its interests are purely commercial and has been contacted for comment.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-21/us-military-asset-link-port-of-darwin-Landbridge/100847070
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-21/us-military-asset-link-port-of-darwin-Landbridge/100847070
#15632587 at 2022-02-15 14:01:27 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19766: Durham, Truckers and Comfefe Edition
>>15632557
Who is Michael Chomiak?He is dead now, but his memory lives on in the minds of his family. With all the revisionist ritualistic ceremonies venerating the memory of these 'freedom fighters' over the decades since the Ukrainian encyclopedia was re-written by the U of A, pitting Stalinist apologists against Hitler apologists, we indeed have more than a Nazi problem in the world and especially in Canada: we have a far-left/far-right problem. There is only ONE way out of this problem. But, I digress.
Chomiak, as you can ascertain from the links provided, isChrystia Freeland's grandfather, Canada's current Foreign Minister who is attempting to lead the war chorus against North Korea,who is now attempting to head the same war chorus against Venezuela. I won't repeat that - but I should. Don't be fooled, however. The FM's Meeting in Vancouver on North Korea isn't about North Korea, really, and nor are the sanctions on Venezuela about Venezuela, in the end. Venezuela, North Korea, Syria and many other U.S. theaters of war around the world are really about Russia and China. And Freeland's real enemy is Russia. Is it surprising really? It's in her blood. Any ally of Russia is also on Freeland's hit list.
Venezuela's Russian debt was recently written off, and their oil has now ceased to be traded in USD, but in the Yuan instead. If you follow International Trade and Relations, you will know that the U.S. has been going after Venezuela for decades with much fervor, but no prize - yet. Now with Freeland as Foreign Minister, Canada has been stirring the pot with as much, if not more fervor than the U.S over Venezuela as well as all over Latin America.
As a matter of fact, China and Russia have been successfully tag-teaming in making U.S. and former British Empire bully victims allies all over the world. However, Russia and, more so, China, are using, as their basis of making nations their allies, not with sanctions or war threats or Soros-style color revolutions, but with economic cooperation, respecting nations' sovereignty and building the physical economy for the benefit of the general population of said countries. Russia and China both are doing this through cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), based on the proposal by Lyndon and Helga Zepp-LaRouche (known in China as the New Silk Road Lady). You, the reader, should know that Lyndon LaRouche's economic writings have been studied at various levels of the academic intelligentsia who advise economic policy in Russia, Sergei Glazyev, for example. And in China the EIR's Special Report: The New Silk Road Becomes the World-Landbridge was sponsored and published by the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies which is a partnership of Renmin University, a key academic advisory institution to the Chinese government, and Chongyang Investment Ltd. Further, the BRI is rooted in LaRouche's science of physical economy.
The Ukraine: Freeland's Coming War Against Russia
While most in the West know about the U.S.'s sanctions against Russia, or the lesser known Canadian sanctions against Russia, even less people know about Russia's sanctions against the West. These are not economic sanctions, but sanctions against people. One of those sanctioned is Freeland.
Freeland is not allowed in Russia, and neither is George Soros, her current mentor and close friend. However, she does travel to the Ukraine - often. During the Soros and U.S.' NED-funded Maidan coup, she was a featured guest on Canadian radio shows. Listening to her rant on the CBC about how close she was to Obama and ultra-neo-con Victoria Nuland-Kagan(a connection that should make any decent, honest democratically-minded liberal shake their head), getting almost daily briefings from them about the poor 'freedom fighters' against the evil Russia-loving Yanukovych, it was clear, to me at least, that Freeland was either 'in on it' or she had fallen for the well-timed and well-placed propaganda that is now proven time and time again. I wasn't sure yet, so that's when I set about discoveringwho Chrystia Nuland really is (that is not a typo).
#15268172 at 2021-12-28 19:56:12 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19312: DAY 2 ITT We Wait for #MaxwellTrial Verdict II Edition
Why Australia may NEVER get the Port of Darwin back from Beijing as bureaucrats find there is 'no national security risk' to the deal - despite China trying to tank the Aussie economy
Australian Defence Force decides not to overturn controversial China port deal
Landbridge signed a $506million agreement to control the Port of Darwin
The 99-year lease has come under criticism as tensions dramatically sour
Relations between Canberra and Beijing have reached critical low point
But Defence officials have deemed the port is not a 'national security' issue
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10349869/Australia-NEVER-Port-Darwin-Beijing-China-Defence-report-handed-down.html
#13836412 at 2021-06-05 18:43:45 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #17515: SOME ANONS ARE NOT HERE FOR (YOU)'s SOME HAVE COME FOR [THEM] Edition
>>13836346
Note Vladdy_P's mention of Trans-Siberian railway.
https://canadianpatriot.org/2020/09/28/trumps-surprising-alaska-canada-rail-announcement-might-america-join-the-polar-silk-road/
https://canadianpatriot.org/2018/12/12/4492-2/
https://canadianpatriot.org/2020/09/17/the-historic-clash-of-two-opposing-paradigms-gilpins-Landbridge-vs-mahans-world-maritime-empire/
ha! Sir Spoopmeister Dearlove, former head of MI6, is probably shitting hizzelf.
poor Mika. dead daddy must be so disappointed in her
#12064782 at 2020-12-17 13:32:13 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #15403: Riding the Storm Out Edition
>>12064724
In opposition to the outdated British controls of "chock points" on the seas which kept the world under the clutches of the might of London, Gilpin advocated loudly for a system of internal improvements, rail development, and growth of the innate goodness of all cultures and people through scientific and technological progress. Once a global system of mutual development of rail were established, Gilpin stated "in the shipment of many kinds of raw and manufactured goods, it will largely supersede the ocean traffic of Great Britain, in whose hands is now carrying the trade of the world."
Gilpin's vision was most clearly laid out in his 1890 magnum opus"The Cosmopolitan Railway"which featured designs for development corridors across all continents united by a "community of principle".
https://canadianpatriot.org/2020/09/17/the-historic-clash-of-two-opposing-paradigms-gilpins-Landbridge-vs-mahans-world-maritime-empire/
https://archive.org/details/cosmopolitanrai02gilpgoog
https://risetidefoundation.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/gilpin-cosmopolitan-railway-hi-rez-1.png?w=1000
#10601428 at 2020-09-11 10:19:36 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #13566: Is There a Connection 'Tween the YMCA & Nature Conservancy? Edition
>>10601397
>You're' not that retarded are you? they're Chinese descendants, walked over Landbridge few hundred years ago..
OK, that explains it. Thanks Einstein.
BTW: Their not they're and if you think there was a land bridge a few hundred years ago, you probably shouldn't be inferring that other people are retarded.
#10601397 at 2020-09-11 10:11:52 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #13566: Is There a Connection 'Tween the YMCA & Nature Conservancy? Edition
>>10601355
You're' not that retarded are you? they're Chinese descendants, walked over Landbridge few hundred years ago..
#9480649 at 2020-06-05 05:58:13 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #12134: The 'Gravey On The Rumble Train' Edition
Australia shakes up foreign investment laws for national security
Australia announced the biggest shakeup of its foreign investment rules in almost half a century on Friday, including additional powers to force the divestment of a business if it creates a national security risk. Citing the need to balance economic and national security, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said all foreign investors will face greater scrutiny when bidding for sensitive assets, regardless of the size of the deal and whether the buyer is private or state-owned. In one major change, the Treasurer will be given a last-resort power to vary or to impose conditions on a deal or force a divestment. A Treasury document said the power would not retrospective.
Frydenberg did not provide full details of which business sectors would be targeted under the changes, which will be made public in the next few weeks, but he did give some indication of areas of interest.
The definition of a national security business would likely cover telecommunication companies, energy and utilities businesses, the defence supply chain, and businesses that collect, store and own data deemed critical to Australia's national security and defence, he said.
The changes, the biggest overhaul of foreign investment policy since the current framework was established in 1975, will effectively make permanent a temporary tightening of foreign investment regulations announced in March to prevent fire sales of distressed assets during the coronavirus crisis. Under current laws, most private investments under A$275 million ($190.8 million) are not screened, while the threshold is A$1.2 billion for companies from countries such as China which have free trade agreements with Australia. The threshold is zero for state-owned enterprises.
Frydenberg did not single out China, or any other country, when announcing the overhaul but the Chinese government has in the past raised concerns with Australia about changes to foreign investment rules. Chinese companies have been major investors in Australian resources, agriculture and property.
Public disquiet over the sale of the Port of Darwin in 2016 to Chinese company Landbridge prompted a rule change to require approval from the country's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) for critical infrastructure deals. China dropped from second to fifth in the list of countries providing the largest sources of approved foreign investment in Australia for 2018-2019. The United States was first, followed by Canada, Singapore and Japan in 2018-2019. Chinese investment fell by almost 50% to $13.1 billion ($8.4 billion) in 2019.
The government plans to release a draft of the new rules by July for industry consultation before they are implemented on Jan. 1, 2021.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-investment/australia-shakes-up-foreign-investment-laws-for-national-security-idUSKBN23C01J
#7258106 at 2019-07-30 14:14:22 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #9286: World Day Against Trafficking In Persons Edition
US Plans to Build Additional Military Infrastructure in Australia - Minister
The US and Australia have been stepping up their military presence across the Western Pacific amid fears that China would gain more influence in the South China Sea which is a strategic passageway rich in natural resources.
The US plans to build additional military infrastructure in Australia once Congress approves a $211.5 million budget for the US Navy, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne told Sky News on Tuesday.
Payne did not elaborate on what exactly the US was planning to build. However, Australian media reported earlier this month that the plans were for a new port facility near Darwin in the north of the country.
Under the Force Posture Initiatives, signed between the two countries in 2011, 2,500 US Marines train in Australia each year. They are housed in an Australian base at Darwin.
At the same time, media reports say, China's Landbridge Group secured a 99-year lease on the Port of Darwin in 2015.
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201907301076406955-us-plans-to-build-additional-military-infrastructure-in-australia—minister/
#6124825 at 2019-04-10 20:38:48 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #7832: Glorious Fallout Edition
>>6124344
This is absolutely hilarious! The movie is really starting to get good!!
POTUS attempted to work with the Mex gov't the last time the "caravans" started heading this way, and in true Mex gov't fashion they tried to play our country by paying lip service to attempting to control our border, while (not so) secretly allowing the vagrants to ramp up their immigration exodus.
POTUS is having none of it. You shouldn't have fucked with 4 10 20, Sombrero boiz.
Now, POTUS may have backed off his threat to immediately close the border (yeah, a little lip service to industry in Texas), and he softened up somewhat on the huge tariffs. But there are about 20 other ways he can gut Mexico's economy, and one of those ways is to JUST SLOW DOWN the economy by reallocating assets from commercial imports to the vagrants.
(Note here - I AM GOING TO STOP CALLING THEM "MIGRANTS", SINCE THEY ARE NOTHING MORE THAN VAGRANTS)
Next marker - Anons, watch for a shift of manufacturing for auto components and other items to the US in order to fill orders and avoid transportation costs/losses due to import slowdowns. News of that hits, and Mexico will shit enough to fill a Landbridge across the Gulf of California from Mazatlan to the tip of the Baja Peninsula.
Book it.
#1587834 at 2018-05-30 17:00:58 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #1996 Fags and Shills and Trolls, Oh My! Edition
>>1587783
while on larouchepac... check out "the world Landbridge"
excellent read
#1035484 at 2018-04-14 04:43:45 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #1291: Spot The Shill Edition
Just some random thoughts, and I apologize if this has already been brought up. But I think Syria is somehow the key to everything. Damascus is the world's oldest inhabited city. Q refers to a bridge- Ancient Syria was the Landbridge connecting three continents. And Q talks of spiders/spiderweb. What if that connects to the ancient spider goddess, Uttu? So what if Damascus is the center of the web?
#25688 at 2018-01-12 02:14:30 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #29: Patience is Also Key Edition
>>25572
The American Indians were the equivalent of slightly more advanced hunter-gatherers of thousands of years earlier in Europe.
We saw more technologically advanced civilizations in ancient Egypt and the Babylonians than when the Pilgrims arrived in the New World. Ancient Greek and Roman technology and advancements would have blown away the Indians.
"Original founding fathers" my ass. They just happened to wander over here across an Asian Landbridge and didn't bother to leave.
8kun Midnight Riders Posts (1)
#121218 at 2022-03-07 05:46:35 (UTC+1)
QR Midnight Riders #636: NOTHING Trumps the American SPIRIT Edition
>>121215
Its true. History cannot be discounted. We lied to Russia, but..
this goes back to history. If our government was taken over by the Nazis, as in German fucking Nazis pieces of shit.. and knowing that going WAAAY back in history, Germany has always had a problem with Russia.. that we would do this to them, and use the same Landbridge that was used during WW2 to in a sense, relauch an attack on them.. does it all not make sense?
8chan/8kun QRB Posts (2)
#148023 at 2022-09-05 02:15:33 (UTC+1)
QRB General #999: Demon Resident On Stage Now Edition
Australian AF DRGN01 A-330PM Albanesebehind ASY714 A330 and both heading to Darwin from Brisbane depart-both these are used as 'Bruce Force One' in the past-Albanese used one of these to go to Paris and talk to Macron and then take a smaller AC to "visit Zelenskyy in Kyiv", Rzesow Airport Poland..here is dhat EBIC FAIL >>141506 PF101 thread and off-bred-same place as Trudope's "visit" in early May
Looks like some discush gonna go on about Port Darwin as true blues ain't buying wut they 'selling' since Albanese is drongo (DRGN01) but he trying to look all big note while being a gigantic budgahh..
They signed that Port Darwin lease in 2015
Chinese-owned company Landbridge rejects 'myths and mistruths' about Darwin Port lease
The company that holds the 99-year lease of Darwin Port says it has been the subject of unwarranted concerns and has hit back at "mistruths", insisting the Chinese government has no influence over its operations. The port - which is considered the most strategic maritime asset in northern Australia - was controversially leased to Chinese-owned company, Landbridge, in 2015.
Amid ongoing tensions between Australia and China, the federal government is reviewing the $506 million deal, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week reiterating some of his concerns. "People would be aware that it was leased out to a company connected very directly with the government of the People's Republic of China," Mr Albanese said. Landbridge is owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, who paid $506 million for the lease. But in an interview with the ABC, Landbridge said that just because the company is owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, that does not mean it is subject to Chinese government control.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-29/darwin-port-nt-Landbridge-rejects-chinese-influence-claims/101379670
Drongo is Oz slang fer stoopid and he trying to project he a Dragon with that callsign...FAIL
#60077 at 2021-06-05 21:28:13 (UTC+1)
QRB General #270: They Gonna Need A Better Hoax NCSWIC Edition
>>60076
Note Vladdy_P's mention of Trans-Siberian railway.
https://canadianpatriot.org/2020/09/28/trumps-surprising-alaska-canada-rail-announcement-might-america-join-the-polar-silk-road/
https://canadianpatriot.org/2018/12/12/4492-2/
https://canadianpatriot.org/2020/09/17/the-historic-clash-of-two-opposing-paradigms-gilpins-Landbridge-vs-mahans-world-maritime-empire/
ha! Sir Spoopmeister Dearlove, former head of MI6, is probably shitting hizzelf.
8chan/8kun QResearch AUSTRALIA Posts (76)
#21755276 at 2024-10-13 04:10:19 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #37: EVERYTHING IS AT STAKE Edition
#36 - Part 105
Australia / China Tensions - Page 20
>>21718402 Darwin Port increases 'friendly cooperation' with China in new deal - The Chinese-controlled Port of Darwin has signed a "friendly cooperation" agreement with Shenzhen Port in southern China, a city that controversially entered a "strategic partnership" with the Northern Territory capital five years ago. Representatives from both ports last month conducted a signing ceremony in China's Guandong Province to establish the non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which aims to increase trade links between both strategic maritime gateways. Details of the "friendly port relationship" do not appear to have been announced locally in Australia, but according to official Chinese statements both parties will soon carry out "all-round in-depth exchanges and cooperation". In a brief statement, Darwin Port CEO Peter Dummett confirmed to the ABC that he had travelled to China to sign the agreement with Shenzen representatives on September 23. "Darwin Port and Shenzhen Port have entered into a friendly non-binding MOU in order to establish a closer relationship between both ports and to further understand potential business opportunities for trade and development." In 2015 the CLP Northern Territory government signed a $506 million deal with Chinese-owned Landbridge Group to lease Darwin Port for 99 years, sparking security concerns at the highest levels of Australia's defence department and in the United States. Last year, the Albanese government announced it would not cancel the controversial lease after a review by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet found there was "a robust regulatory system in place to manage risks to critical infrastructure". Both the federal government and Northern Territory government are yet to respond to requests for comment about the recent "friendly cooperation agreement" struck between Darwin Port and Shenzhen Port.
>>21739533 Chinese trade restrictions on Australian lobsters to be lifted before Chinese New Year - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he has secured a promise from China's Premier Li Qiang to lift a ban on Australian rock lobsters by the end of the year. The news will be welcomed by the rock lobster industry, which has struggled since being locked out of the lucrative market, and which had been growing increasingly frustrated by the delay to restoring the trade. Mr Albanese met with Premier Li today on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting in Laos, and emerged saying China's second most senior leader had agreed on a "timetable" to let lobsters back by the end of this year, in time for Chinese New Year in early 2025. "This will be welcomed by the people engaged in the live lobster industry in places like Geraldton and South Australia and Tasmania and so many parts of particularly regional Australia," he said. Australian rock lobster exports to China were worth some $700 million a year before Beijing locked them out as part of a broader campaign of economic punishment against Australia in 2020 and 2021, when the bilateral relationship hit its nadir. China has already removed tariffs and barriers on a host of other Australian products – including wine, coal and barley - leaving lobsters as the last major industry that remained frozen out of the massive market. Mr Albanese told journalists in Vientiane that Premier Li's promise had once again vindicated the government's approach to China. "With our patient, calibrated and deliberate approach, we've restored Australian trade with our largest export market, and today we discussed restarting exports of Australian live rock lobsters," Albanese said in Laos.
#21718402 at 2024-10-06 09:36:22 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #37: EVERYTHING IS AT STAKE Edition
Darwin Port increases 'friendly cooperation' with China in new deal
Andrew Greene - 6 October 2024
The Chinese-controlled Port of Darwin has signed a "friendly cooperation" agreement with Shenzhen Port in southern China, a city that controversially entered a "strategic partnership" with the Northern Territory capital five years ago.
Representatives from both ports last month conducted a signing ceremony in China's Guandong Province to establish the non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which aims to increase trade links between both strategic maritime gateways.
Details of the "friendly port relationship" do not appear to have been announced locally in Australia, but according to official Chinese statements both parties will soon carry out "all-round in-depth exchanges and cooperation".
In a brief statement, Darwin Port CEO Peter Dummett confirmed to the ABC that he had travelled to China to sign the agreement with Shenzen representatives on September 23.
"Darwin Port and Shenzhen Port have entered into a friendly non-binding MOU in order to establish a closer relationship between both ports and to further understand potential business opportunities for trade and development."
"The MOU was signed by Darwin Port CEO Peter Dummett and Ms Cai Zheng from Shenzhen Port," Mr Dummett said.
Chinese officials have hailed the deal with Australia's "gateway to Asia" by highlighting the maritime voyage between Port of Darwin to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area takes only 7 days.
The Port of Shenzhen, situated on the Guandong coastline, is considered one of the busiest and fastest-growing in the world and is home to dozens of shipping companies and over 100 international container routes.
In 2015 the CLP Northern Territory government signed a $506 million deal with Chinese-owned Landbridge Group to lease Darwin Port for 99 years, sparking security concerns at the highest levels of Australia's defence department and in the United States.
Last year, the Albanese government announced it would not cancel the controversial lease after a review by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet found there was "a robust regulatory system in place to manage risks to critical infrastructure".
Former Labor NT chief minister Michael Gunner completed a "strategic partnership" agreement between Darwin and Shenzhen after a Global Smart City Forum held in the Chinese city in May 2019.
Both the federal government and Northern Territory government are yet to respond to requests for comment about the recent "friendly cooperation agreement" struck between Darwin Port and Shenzhen Port.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-06/port-of-darwin-signs-cooperation-agreement-with-shenzhen/104437204
#19822226 at 2023-10-29 05:36:24 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #32: YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS FIGHT Edition
#32 - Part 94
Australia / China Tensions - Part 10
>>19775766 Anthony Albanese urged to halt Daniel Duggan's US extradition during meeting with president - Showing that their home-baked cake had made it safely to school was important in itself, but the Duggan family had little inkling of the happy snap's broader significance. The photograph of Daniel Duggan with his kids outside their country New South Wales school captured one of his last moments of freedom. "That (cake photo) is the last photo of Dan with us," his wife, Saffrine, said, ahead of Saturday, the day which marks a year since her husband was arrested. "Every photo that I take or have since, there is one massive hole in our family - their father and my husband." Duggan, a former US military pilot who became an Australian citizen in 2012, is accused of breaching US arms trafficking laws by training Chinese military pilots while working at a flight school more than a decade ago. Duggan has consistently denied the allegation. But if convicted, he faces up to 60 years in prison. "We feel that it's been an act of violence and cruelty on our family to take away a beautiful man, my husband, under allegations that are clearly political, that we flatly deny, are unproven and are 12 years old," Saffrine Duggan said. She holds hope his case could be raised when the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, meets with US president Joe Biden and other officials during a state visit next week. Any agreement for extradition to the US must be approved by the federal government, specifically the attorney general. "I ask the prime minister to deliver a message ... that he will not support the extradition of my husband," Saffrine Duggan said. "He belongs with us, in Australia."
>>19780612 China agrees to lift 'coercive' tariffs on Australian wine - Beijing has agreed to review its crippling tariffs on Australian wine, a breakthrough for the Albanese government that leaves only the live lobster trade and a clutch of beef abattoirs on China's trade blacklist ahead of Anthony Albanese's trip to meet Xi Jinping. The Prime Minister unveiled the deal on Sunday as he revealed he would travel to Beijing and Shanghai from November 4 to 7 to meet with President Xi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang. "I look forward to visiting China, an important step towards ensuring a stable and productive relationship," Prime Minister Albanese said in a statement. "I welcome the progress we have made to return Australian products, including Australian wine, to the Chinese market. Strong trade benefits both countries." The trade win comes days after the Albanese government announced that it would allow Chinese company Landbridge to continue its controversial lease over the Port of Darwin.
>>19785776 PM entrapped in crisis of symbolism over outcome - "Anthony Albanese is now entrapped in a crisis of symbolism over outcome. It is a political crisis of his own making. Failure to secure strategically significant benefits in Washington on AUKUS will reflect a weakness of influence. A reluctance to raise the dominant issue of Chinese military aggression - in light of the Pentagon's recent warning of China's acceleration of nuclear capability - will be seen as weakness toward Beijing. Albanese, a damaged leader in the wake of the voice referendum, now seeks a narrative that elevates him as a leader that can traverse the chasm: a maintenance of US-Australian cultural and military hegemony against a restoration of Australia-China pragmatic relations. The US will be acutely aware of the fact that several days after standing for photos in the Rose Garden, Albanese will be standing in the same spot as Vladimir Putin last week, as a guest of the Chinese dictator. They will be wondering about Australia's commitment as it urges the US not to repeat the Obama mistake of taking its eye off the Indo-Pacific. Meanwhile, average Australian families struggling with their ballooning mortgages will be wondering what it all means for them." - Simon Benson - theaustralian.com.au
#19822223 at 2023-10-29 05:35:56 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #32: YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS FIGHT Edition
#32 - Part 93
Australia / China Tensions - Part 9
>>19769319 Federal government will not cancel Chinese company Landbridge's Port of Darwin lease - The federal government has announced that it will not strip a Chinese company of the Darwin port lease, just weeks before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits Beijing. Mr Albanese said last year that the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet would review the 99-year lease held by the Australian subsidiary of Chinese company Landbridge. Landbridge is reported to have links to the People's Liberation Army of China, and the US Obama administration raised concerns with the Turnbull government after the Northern Territory awarded it to the company in 2015. In a statement, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet said that there was "a robust regulatory system in place to manage risks to critical infrastructure" and that it "was not necessary to vary or cancel the lease." "Monitoring of security arrangements around the Port of Darwin will continue," it said. "Australians can have confidence that their safety will not be compromised, while ensuring that Australia remains a competitive destination for foreign investment." The federal government had accepted that advice, the department said.
>>19769341 Security experts criticise decision to leave Port of Darwin in Chinese hands - Defence experts have criticised a decision to leave a Chinese company's 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin in place, warning that it leaves investment decisions on critical national infrastructure in the hands of a potential foreign adversary. The federal government announced on Friday afternoon that a review by key security agencies of the Darwin port lease had found "robust" systems were in place to manage the risks. The head of the Northern Australia strategic policy centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, John Coyne, and Australian Defence Association director Neil James both criticised the review for failing to examine the broader implications of a Chinese-owned company controlling a critical deep water port. Coyne said the issue with the Darwin port lease was not that it could open the door to spying but that the Landbridge lease left "future development in the hands of Landbridge and I don't think their interests will align with ours". "Beijing will be happy, it reinforces their capacity to invest in critical infrastructure. Did the government consider the broader impact on development in Darwin harbour and how the lease will affect that? If you keep asking the same agencies the same questions, you will get the same answers," he said. "There is no doubt in Washington this won't be well received either. It hardly shows that we are looking at national security holistically."
>>19775719 Wife of jailed former Top Gun pilot calls on prime minister to intervene on one-year anniversary of arrest - The wife of a former US military pilot and Australian citizen arrested one year ago on charges of training Chinese airmen has called for the Albanese government to release him. Daniel Edmund Duggan, 55, was arrested on October 21, 2022, in regional New South Wales after the US government accused him of arms trafficking by providing military training to Chinese pilots in South Africa between 2010 and 2012. He is also accused of money laundering while a US citizen. The father of six denies all the charges. Duggan's wife Saffrine today called on the government to set her husband free ahead of a court hearing on Monday in which his legal team will press for his extradition hearing, set for November 24, be vacated. She urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to raise her husband's detention when he meets US President Joe Biden in Washington DC next week for talks. "We demand they reject the advice of faceless departmental bureaucrats in Canberra," she said. "We demand transparency and an end to the secrecy and deception that has marred this case from the beginning. And we ask that the prime minister deliver a message on his visit to the US, a message that he will not support the extradition of Dan Duggan."
#19822067 at 2023-10-29 04:54:47 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #32: YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS FIGHT Edition
#32 - Part 34
AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 7
>>19785601 Video: Revealed: Donald Trump's leaked conversations with Anthony Pratt - Nick McKenzie discusses the leaked recordings, during which billionaire Anthony Pratt details the former president's 'outrageous' private conversations. - The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
>>19785607 Video: Donald Trump Spills Secrets - 60 minutes uncovers tape recordings of Australian Billionaire Anthony Pratt sharing the classified information former president Donald Trump told him. - 60 Minutes Australia
>>19785767 Anthony Albanese to lobby US Congress to back Joe Biden's bill for AUKUS, Israel and Ukraine - Anthony Albanese will lobby US congress members to pass Joe Biden's bill promising billions for the AUKUS submarine program and military aid for Israel and Ukraine, as he launches a four-week international blitz headlined by meetings with the US President in Washington and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. Mr Albanese on Sunday confirmed he would be the first prime minister in seven years to visit China after Beijing agreed to review trade sanctions on Australian wine following the government's decision allowing Chinese-firm Landbridge to continue operating the Port of Darwin. Mr Albanese, who will meet Mr Xi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing and attend the Shanghai International Import Expo between November 4 and November 7, flew out to Washington on Sunday for an official state visit and dinner at the White House. Amid escalating wars in the Middle East and Ukraine and ahead of high-level meetings with Mr Biden and top US officials, Mr Albanese said he would urge the US President at their ninth meeting since the election to "remain focused on the Indo-Pacific ?region" as a counterbalance to Beijing. "We do have strategic competition in this region," he said.
>>19792290 Albanese, Biden to tighten alliance at 'Love Shack' dinner - United States President Joe Biden has arranged for band The B52s to perform at a state dinner for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in a sign of the effort being made in Washington DC to welcome the Australian leader on a visit that has been undercut by chaos in Congress. The new wave band, known for hits such as Love Shack and Rock Lobster, will be the star act at the dinner on the south lawn of the White House when more than 100 guests join the two leaders and their partners on Wednesday night. Albanese, an avowed fan of 1980s music, has been tight-lipped about the event after arriving in the US capital on Sunday night with a stated mission to use four days of meetings to cement the AUKUS defence pact, act on climate change and deepen cooperation on the supply of critical minerals. But the state dinner is being watched closely as a guide to the relationship between Biden and Albanese and how their personal ties will influence the next phase of the AUKUS alliance, which assumes the US will sell several nuclear-powered submarines to Australia and transfer technology to help build a new fleet in South Australia.
>>19792299 PM plays down fears submarine pact could be put on back-burner - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has played down concerns that time is running out to pass a raft of legislation to facilitate the AUKUS submarine pact, as he embarks on a four-day blitz to lobby members of a divided Congress paralysed by Republican infighting. Hours after landing in Washington for a highly anticipated meeting with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, Albanese said US politicians from all sides understood the value of AUKUS and wanted "to get it right". Diplomats and politicians fear that unless AUKUS progresses over the next few months, the plan could be put on the back-burner once America enters a volatile election year in which Donald Trump is attempting a return to the White House. Multiple pieces of legislation still need to be passed to make AUKUS a reality, including laws to enable US Virginia-class submarines to be transferred to Australia; a bill that would categorise Australia as a "domestic source" for military production under the US Defence Production Act; and a $3.4 billion White House funding request to strengthen the US Navy's industrial base amid concerns from some Republicans that AUKUS could stretch it to "breaking point".
#19785796 at 2023-10-23 09:38:48 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #32: YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS FIGHT Edition
>>19785789
2/2
The Port of Darwin issue has become so toxic that no politician, will defend the lease. That's why we got a departmental press release issued late on Friday.
Make no mistake: it is the officials who are doing the government's bidding. We saw in the Robodebt royal commission how officials will always contrive to deliver the results government wants. Inconveniently for Albanese, just two days before the PM&C Port of Darwin statement, the director-general of ASIO, Mike Burgess, joined his Five Eyes intelligence partners in Silicon Valley, California, to warn about Chinese intellectual property theft through spying.
Burgess said: "The Chinese government is engaged in the most sustained, scaled and sophisticated theft of intellectual property and expertise in history. It is unprecedented and it is unacceptable. China has developed a ruthless business model to seize commercial advantage."
That ruthless business model also applies to China's desire to control other countries' critical infrastructure. In China, Landbridge presented the Port of Darwin lease as a triumph for Xi Jinping's Belt and Road strategy.
The lease has now become a critical block to Australia making urgent changes to strengthen our defence position in the north and to support the expansion of a US military presence. That presence may embarrass some in Labor, but they should thank their lucky stars for its deterrence value because our own defence capabilities are in such a shambolic state.
Albanese is not moving on the urgent work needed to strengthen our security in the north for the sake of promoting a content-free trip to Beijing to mark Gough Whitlam's 1973 visit.
Labor's failure to expand the defence budget, its gutting of the army's vehicle plans, its prevarications over naval shipbuilding and on deciding the location of the east coast submarine base are sacrificing national security, all centred on the dubious claim that relations with China are "stabilised". China's strategic game plan hasn't changed.
China has slowly ended its coercive trade measures, judging that a method of drip-feeding these concessions will make the Albanese government more compliant and less critical. That aim has been achieved. In the first six months of the Albanese government, defence looked as though it was about to get more funding. In the past six months that effort has disappeared. Security has been replaced by statecraft and the fanciful claim that relations with China have stabilised. In Beijing, Albanese will realise there is no truth to the claim. He will privately be told by his hosts that Australian behaviour is the source of all our bilateral problems.
China will not offer any concession on its military growth, threatening Taiwan or bullying neighbours. Publicly, the Chinese will afford Albanese every opportunity to indulge his hero worship of Whitlam's visit half a century ago. The Chinese know how to gull foreign leaders - recall Emmanuel Macron's fawning performance of a few months ago.
The risk for Albanese is that the visit will make him look weaker on China in Australia by celebrating small concessions in trade and ignoring the big strategic changes sweeping the world.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/albanese-government-has-failed-strategic-test-in-northern-australia/news-story/a5aa751bf7f9c45674e325bf21e31f83
#19785789 at 2023-10-23 09:36:28 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #32: YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS FIGHT Edition
>>19769319
>>19769341
Albanese government has failed strategic test in northern Australia
PETER JENNINGS - OCTOBER 23, 2023
1/2
Yet another review has defended the absurd 2015 Northern Territory decision to lease the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company for 99 years. The lease continues to dog successive federal governments and is undermining defence planning.
Just weeks into replacing Tony Abbott as prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull had to deal with the port lease announcement at precisely the same time defence minister Marise Payne and foreign minister Julie Bishop met their US counterparts in Boston for the 2015 AUSMIN talks. The ministers announced they had "decided to pursue enhanced naval co-operation across all domains".
With spectacularly bad timing the Darwin port lease was made public just as the US secretaries of state and defence returned to Washington DC.
No one had raised this at AUSMIN. A senior American official told me that news went off around the Pentagon like an atomic bomb.
Barack Obama ticked off Turnbull, saying the US would have liked to have been told. Turnbull said Obama should have been reading the NT News. Imagine the US treating our strategic concerns with such indifference.
In fact, Turnbull and then treasurer Scott Morrison knew they had a problem. A loophole in the foreign investment rules excluded state- and territory-owned assets from federal oversight on national security or any other grounds.
Morrison closed the loophole, but was too late to prevent the Port of Darwin lease. Even before that, Defence had decided nothing needed to be done. A 2015 Defence note, released under Freedom of Information, records an official saying of Chinese company Landbridge: "This is a private company, Australian managed, and operated with a significant degree of autonomy, by Australian-based people." This was a spectacularly naive misunderstanding about how companies operate under Chinese communism.
Subsequently, Defence, the Prime Minister's department, ASIO and others have all found ways, over several reviews, to say that leasing Australia's only significant northern port to a Chinese company for a century presents no strategic concerns.
Defence's initial "defence" of its non-decision was that the Port of Darwin was separate to the navy's tiny patrol boat base. The department didn't make a broader judgment about national security.
The review released by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet last Friday points to a "robust regulatory system in place to manage risks to critical infrastructure". Such is the alertness of our national security guardians that "Australians can have confidence that their safety will not be compromised". The statement acknowledges "the importance of the Port of Darwin as a key piece of critical infrastructure" but the focus on risks to the "safety" of Australians moves the attention away from national security.
The bigger picture is clear: China is becoming militarily aggressive in our region. Since the lease of the Port of Darwin, Beijing illegally took over disputed territory in the South China Sea, building new military air bases and sea ports. Chinese military power projects much further south to the Indonesian archipelago. Routine Chinese air and naval patrols and intelligence-gathering ships now operate in Australian waters.
These developments make northern Australia much more strategically important. This is why the US Marine Corps and US Air Force presence in the north is growing, and why they are building up fuel and other stores. It is also why US Virginia -class submarines will operate out of our western navy base from 2027. And it is why Australia is developing plans for nuclear-powered submarines.
The Albanese government should have overturned the lease because we, and our key ally, the US, need that facility to expand and secure a larger military presence in the north. The recently released Defence Strategic Review says "there is a clear need to have the correct infrastructure and logistics support in the right locations to project and sustain power".
The report's focus on northern Australia makes it obvious the Port of Darwin issue will have to be addressed soon, even if the government's immediate priority is to smooth political waters with China before Albanese visits Beijing.
(continued)
#19785770 at 2023-10-23 09:23:26 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #32: YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS FIGHT Edition
>>19785767
2/2
Mr Albanese arrives in the US capital with congress in its third week of gridlock from Republican infighting that has left the House of Representatives without a Speaker since October 5.
Democratic congressman Joe Courtney, the co-chair of the Friends of Australia Caucus, said the infighting would likely prevent Mr Albanese from addressing congress."The majority party's inability to either settle on a Speaker or reach out to Democrats for a bipartisan path forward will likely prevent the Prime Minister from giving a joint address to the congress, which the Australian people deserve," he said.
The Australian understands Mr Albanese's arrival in Washington ahead of his visit to Beijing is not merely symbolic.
With US-China relations still tense, Mr Albanese will discuss his China visit with Mr Biden, US cabinet secretaries and other senior national security advisers to ensure he is fully briefed on Washington's positions ahead of meetings with Mr Xi and Mr Li in Beijing.
Meanwhile, the Albanese government's decision on Friday to allow Chinese company Landbridge to continue its lease over the Port of Darwin is understood to have shocked many in the nat?ional security community.
The decision, viewed as a deal with Beijing to win concessions on trade bans and secure a meeting with Mr Xi, was made without a press conference or any minister including Mr Albanese attaching their name to it.
Mr Albanese outsourced the announcement to his department.
The timing of his Beijing visit, which is coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Gough Whitlam's historic 1973 trip to China, has been viewed by some security ?figures as a concession to the ?Chinese Communist Party's ?legacy-?building "obsession with anni?versaries".
Former ambassador to the US Joe Hockey said America could request more help from Australia in relation to both Ukraine and Israel, following Mr Biden's request to congress last week for extra money for military aid and submarine production.
"There's always ask and give. Anthony Albanese will be at the coalface of discussions about the future of the Middle East - all the ceremony and warm embrace that everyone sees there obscures the important and many serious discussions," Mr Hockey told The Australian.
His successor in Washington, Arthur Sinodinos, said the Israel crisis could distract attention from the Australian visit. "The mood in Washington is very much preoccupation, particularly over the next few days, with what Israel will do," he said.
There were hopes Mr Biden's request for extra submarine funding would mollify Republican concerns about the capacity of the US industrial base to provide Australia with boats starting in the early 2030s, as agreed under the AUKUS pact.
But on Friday (Saturday AEDT), Republican senator Roger Wicker, who had held up earlier Senate moves to endorse the submarine transfers, said the Biden administration funding proposals were a "welcome start" and a "first step".
"There is still much work to be done with the administration and Pentagon to expand our industrial base and add the necessary attack submarines to prevent conflict on the seas, but this package signals a positive first step toward that goal," he added.
Former US ambassador to Australia Arthur Culvahouse told The Australian that legislative changes to support AUKUS were "always going to be difficult", recalling some of the difficulties he had when Australia purchased US F-35s. "It's one of the most entrenched bureaucracies in the US government," Mr Culvahouse said, referring to parts of the State Department that deal with technology transfer.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/anthony-albanese-to-lobby-us-congress-to-back-joe-bidens-bill-for-aukus-israel-and-ukraine/news-story/6d49b29353dc6c99eb870c41e70dede9
#19785767 at 2023-10-23 09:22:31 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #32: YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS FIGHT Edition
>>19505163
>>19780628
Anthony Albanese to lobby US Congress to back Joe Biden's bill for AUKUS, Israel and Ukraine
GEOFF CHAMBERS - OCTOBER 23, 2023
1/2
Anthony Albanese will lobby US congress members to pass Joe Biden's bill promising billions for the AUKUS submarine program and military aid for Israel and Ukraine, as he launches a four-week international blitz headlined by meetings with the US President in Washington and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Mr Albanese on Sunday confirmed he would be the first prime minister in seven years to visit China after Beijing agreed to review trade sanctions on Australian wine following the government's decision allowing Chinese-firm Landbridge to continue operating the Port of Darwin.
Mr Albanese, who will meet Mr Xi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing and attend the Shanghai International Import Expo between November 4 and November 7, flew out to Washington on Sunday for an official state visit and dinner at the White House.
Amid escalating wars in the Middle East and Ukraine and ahead of high-level meetings with Mr Biden and top US officials, Mr Albanese said he would urge the US President at their ninth meeting since the election to "remain focused on the Indo-Pacific ?region" as a counterbalance to Beijing. "We do have strategic competition in this region," he said.
The AUKUS submarine program is facing resistance from some congressional Republicans and the US House of Represen?tatives is still unable to function because of divisions over the election of a new Speaker.
Despite the chaos in Washington, Mr Albanese said he would lobby for the passage of the $US105bn military aid bill that includes $3.4bn to bolster US submarine production to help promised sales to Australia.
Hours before departing Sydney for the US, Mr Albanese said: "President Biden's agenda is one that we support and we will be urging support for all of the legislation that is required for AUKUS."
The Washington trip begins the most significant month of diplomacy since Mr Albanese took office. The meetings with Mr Biden and Mr Xi are immediately followed by the Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook Islands, where Australia is expected to make new climate change pledges in support of its joint-Pacific bid to host a UN Climate Change conference.
Mr Albanese will also attend the APEC leaders meeting in San Francisco later in November and is likely to go to the COP28 Climate Change conference in Dubai in early December.
During his four-day visit to the US, Mr Albanese will announce new agreements on climate change and critical minerals and he is expected to unveil Australia's first major response to the Biden administration's $US3 trillion Inflation Reduction Act, which focuses heavily on clean energy investments.
"I'll be having important meetings with members of congress and Senate about the legislation that's required to ensure that AUKUS can continue to forge ahead, but also so that Australia can benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act as well," he said, referring to the Biden administration's trillion-dollar plus subsidy package for US industry, largely for clean energy projects
Against a backdrop of an imminent Israeli ground invasion of Gaza that will possibly overshadow his visit, Mr Albanese will attend the official White House state dinner on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) hosted by the President and first lady Jill Biden.
Mr Albanese will also meet Mr Biden's top-ranking officials in the cabinet room, including Vice-President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Treasury chief Janet Yellen.
Mr Albanese was expected to fly into Joint Base Andrews in Maryland early on Monday afternoon (AEDT), where he will be greeted by ambassador Kevin Rudd and wife Therese Rein.
The state visit is the first for an Australian prime minister since Donald Trump hosted Scott Morrison in 2019.
(continued)
#19780612 at 2023-10-22 10:03:15 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #32: YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS FIGHT Edition
>>19769319
China agrees to lift 'coercive' tariffs on Australian wine
WILL GLASGOW - OCTOBER 22, 2023
Beijing has agreed to review its crippling tariffs on Australian wine, a breakthrough for the Albanese government that leaves only the live lobster trade and a clutch of beef abattoirs on China's trade blacklist ahead of Anthony Albanese's trip to meet Xi Jinping.
The Prime Minister unveiled the deal on Sunday as he revealed he would travel to Beijing and Shanghai from November 4 to 7 to meet with President Xi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
"I look forward to visiting China, an important step towards ensuring a stable and productive relationship," Prime Minister Albanese said in a statement.
"I welcome the progress we have made to return Australian products, including Australian wine, to the Chinese market. Strong trade benefits both countries."
The trade win comes days after the Albanese government announced that it would allow Chinese company Landbridge to continue its controversial lease over the Port of Darwin.
Beijing's wine tariffs - which Australia challenged in the World Trade Organisation - were a centrepiece of the sweeping trade sanctions China imposed in 2020 after the Morrison government called for an inquiry into the origins of Covid.
Australia has agreed to put its WTO case over the wine tariffs on hold while China undertakes an "expedited review" of its duties, which is expected to take five months. Canberra will resume the dispute in the WTO if the duties are not removed.
China's backdown had been widely expected in the wine industry after Beijing last month said it had proposed a "package" deal to end them, seen by Canberra as a face-saving exercise.
The WTO had in recent days delivered a draft report on the more than 200 per cent wine tariffs, which sources familiar with the matter said had found in Australia's favour.
It follows a similar path that Australia convinced China to take in a separate case on an 80 per cent tariff placed on Australian barley. That deal was also agreed to days before an unfavourable WTO report into China's tariff was to be released.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham - who was Australia's trade minister in 2020 - said the wine tariffs were "an attempt at economic coercion by China".
"And it is no doubt, no coincidence that China and Australia received the draft report from the World Trade Organisation into Australia's appeal against these tariffs only in the last week," Senator Birmingham said.
"I am confident that draft report would have found that these tariffs were an act against the rules of the WTO. They are clearly in breach of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement and the undertakings that China had given to Australia.
"And so, they should not just be reviewed, but they should be removed and removed forthwith."
Australia overtook France as the biggest exporter of wine to China in 2019, the year before the tariffs all but eliminated the trade. At their peak Australian wine exports to China were worth almost $1.2 billion.
Treasury Wine Estates, Australia's most valuable wine exporter, is poised to be the biggest beneficiary of the removal of the tariffs. Treasury's Penfolds label is the best known in the Chinese market.
"It's great news to see an agreement for a path forward to allow our Australian brands and wine to be sold in the Chinese market," said Treasury CEO Tim Ford.
"There are only positives to come out of a favourable tariff review for the Chinese consumer, customers and wine category, for the Australian wine industry and for [Treasury]."
Australian Grape & Wine CEO Lee McLean said it had been a very difficult time for Australia's grape growers and wine producers, as China's tariffs compounded a slump from the pandemic and various weather events.
"So this is very welcome news for grape growers and winemakers across the country," he said.
Li Wei, chairman of Barossa winery Swan Wine Group, said he had "encouraging" feedback in recent surveys of Chinese wine distributors.
"Some dealers who have never sold Australian wine in the past are now considering it," he told The Australian.
Wine industry experts have forecast that, despite the end of the impost on Australian exports, the trade will not return to its previous levels. Many Australian producers remain wary of the political risk of the Chinese market while wine consumption in China has shrunk over the last four years as its economy has slowed.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/china-agrees-to-lift-coercive-tariffs-on-australian-wine/news-story/cf44d60c2355df19ee958dc37aeeab6d
#19769341 at 2023-10-20 13:12:04 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #32: YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS FIGHT Edition
>>19257040 (pb)
>>19769319
Security experts criticise decision to leave Port of Darwin in Chinese hands
James Massola and Rachel Clun - October 20, 2023
Defence experts have criticised a decision to leave a Chinese company's 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin in place, warning that it leaves investment decisions on critical national infrastructure in the hands of a potential foreign adversary.
The federal government announced on Friday afternoon that a review by key security agencies of the Darwin port lease had found "robust" systems were in place to manage the risks.
The lease was signed by the former Country Liberal Party government in the Northern Territory in 2015 and prompted a Defence Department review by the then Morrison government which found there were insufficient grounds to scrap the lease.
Former US president Barack Obama also expressed displeasure to former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull when the lease was first signed, asking that the US be kept in the loop on such decisions in future. The US has a contingent of up to 2500 Marines that rotate through Darwin each year.
During the 2022 election campaign Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticised the 2015 decision to lease the port to Landbridge for $506 million, and indicated a willingness to use foreign veto laws to cancel the lease if necessary.
The review has not been publicly released but in a statement released on Friday afternoon, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet said it had found there was insufficient national security grounds to overturn the lease.
It concluded "there is a robust regulatory system in place to manage risks to critical infrastructure, including the Port of Darwin" and that "existing monitoring mechanisms are sufficient and will be ongoing".
"As a result, it was not necessary to vary or cancel the lease," the statement said.
"Monitoring of security arrangements around the Port of Darwin will continue. Australians can have confidence that their safety will not be compromised, while ensuring that Australia remains a competitive destination for foreign investment."
The review was conducted by spy agency ASIO, the Office of National Intelligence and four government departments.
The decision to allow Landbridge's lease to remain in place comes just weeks before Albanese travels to China meet President Xi Jinping.
Senator James Paterson, who is the shadow home affairs minister, said that in opposition Albanese had called the lease of the Port of Darwin "a grave mistake".
"Despite promising to deal with it, now he's squibbed it, cynically dropped it on a Friday afternoon after parliament has risen and after his media appearance for the day," Paterson said.
The head of the Northern Australia strategic policy centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, John Coyne, and Australian Defence Association director Neil James both criticised the review for failing to examine the broader implications of a Chinese-owned company controlling a critical deep water port.
Coyne said the issue with the Darwin port lease was not that it could open the door to spying but that the Landbridge lease left "future development in the hands of Landbridge and I don't think their interests will align with ours".
"Beijing will be happy, it reinforces their capacity to invest in critical infrastructure. Did the government consider the broader impact on development in Darwin harbour and how the lease will affect that? If you keep asking the same agencies the same questions, you will get the same answers," he said.
"There is no doubt in Washington this won't be well received either. It hardly shows that we are looking at national security holistically."
James said the agencies "kept inventing straw men arguments against terminating the lease, but never address the actual problems".
"The key problem is, no matter how many safeguards you have, to initiate any of them during a time of tensions, you're doing it at the worst possible time. Anything you do will be escalatory [sic], that's the fundamental problem and that will never change," he said.
"This may be influenced by the fact that tensions with China are easing but that won't last. The Americans have been hoping we would bite the bullet and fix the problem."
Landbridge is owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng. The port is governed by a range of Commonwealth laws, including the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act, the Defence Act and a deed of licence for access to the port.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/security-experts-criticise-decision-to-leave-port-of-darwin-in-chinese-hands-20231020-p5edve.html
#19769325 at 2023-10-20 13:07:52 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #32: YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS FIGHT Edition
>>19769319
2/2
Eight-year saga comes to an end
The federal opposition criticised the government for not explaining its decision not to cancel the lease, calling it "weak leadership by the prime minister".
"An outcome of any major national security review should warrant, at the very least, an announcement by the Prime Minister who, until now, has not shied away from commenting on the Port of Darwin, calling the initial Northern Territory decision to undertake the lease 'a grave error of judgement'," Shadow Minister for Defence Andrew Hastie said in a joint statement.
"Having tried to be a pre-election hero promising a review, he is now sweeping his decision under the rug and hiding behind a departmental media release, sent out on a Friday afternoon," the statement said.
"The opposition is calling on the prime minister to stand up and explain why he is comfortable with his decision given his previous criticism of the lease."
The announcement brings to an end an eight-year saga which has at times preoccupied both Coalition and Labor governments.
In 2015 the then-defence chief Mark Binskin played down the sensitivity of the port, saying "if [monitoring] ship movements are the issue, I can sit at the fish and chip shop on the wharf at the moment in Darwin and watch ships come and go, regardless of who owns it [the port]."
But other Defence officials told the ABC at the time that the deal was "unnecessary and potentially dangerous".
Mr Albanese was also critical of the lease in 2015, saying while an opposition frontbencher that it was a "grave error of judgement" to "give up a strategic asset to a company that has links with the People's Liberation Army in China".
A 2021 review of the lease, conducted under the former Liberal government and handed to then-defence minister Peter Dutton, reportedly found there were no national security grounds to overturn the lease.
But the Coalition also allocated substantial funding to develop new dual-use port infrastructure in Darwin - with speculation that it might make it easier for US and Australian naval vessels to bypass the Landbridge-owned facility.
Mr Herscovitch it was "possible that this latest review determined that there weren't grounds for ending the lease," much like former reports on Darwin Port.
But he said the decision also went against Mr Albanese's former statements on the lease, and seemed deliberately timed.
"It's hard to interpret this decision as anything other than Australian policy compromise to please the Chinese government," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-20/port-of-darwin-chinese-company-lease-not-cancelled/103003452
#19769319 at 2023-10-20 13:05:53 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #32: YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS FIGHT Edition
>>19257040 (pb)
Federal government will not cancel Chinese company Landbridge's Port of Darwin lease
Stephen Dziedzic - 20 October 2023
1/2
The federal government has announced that it will not strip a Chinese company of the Darwin port lease, just weeks before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits Beijing.
Mr Albanese said last year that the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet would review the 99-year lease held by the Australian subsidiary of Chinese company Landbridge.
Landbridge is reported to have links to the People's Liberation Army of China, and the US Obama administration raised concerns with the Turnbull government after the Northern Territory awarded it to the company in 2015.
In a statement, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet said that there was "a robust regulatory system in place to manage risks to critical infrastructure" and that it "was not necessary to vary or cancel the lease."
"Monitoring of security arrangements around the Port of Darwin will continue," it said.
"Australians can have confidence that their safety will not be compromised, while ensuring that Australia remains a competitive destination for foreign investment."
The federal government had accepted that advice, the department said.
In a statement, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory Natasha Fyles said while she "acknowledged" the report's findings, the decision of the former Country Liberal Party administration in 2015 was "one that Territorians did not want and one that would not have been made under a Labor government".
"The CLP sold the Port, sold TIO and spent the lot, leaving Territorians worse off," she said.
"This is now a decision that we have to live with and one our government will continue to manage."
A spokesperson for the Northern Territory's Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said that the review "gives certainty to Territorians" and that the focus should now be on "growing our economy and driving greater investment through our Port".
The decision comes not long after China released imprisoned Australian journalist Cheng Lei and ahead of the prime minister's much-anticipated visit to Beijing.
Benjamin Herscovitch from the Australian National University told the ABC that it "stretched credulity to breaking point to imagine that the timing of this announcement was a coincidence".
"This review of Landbridge Group's Darwin Port lease has taken nearly a year and a half and ministers were talking about its impending release months ago," he said.
"It therefore seems highly likely that this announcement was timed to feed into the positive atmospherics of Albanese's China trip."
In a statement, Landbridge said it was pleased that the review had been completed.
"The outcomes reaffirm our position that there is no basis for security concerns given the port is operated as a commercial enterprise in accordance with Australian Law and the port transaction documents," the statement said.
"Landbridge is hopeful that the outcome of this review, which is consistent with the findings of the reviews conducted in both 2015 and 2021, will now bring this matter to a close.
"Landbridge and Darwin Port look forward to working with the Northern Territory government and Federal government in developing the Port to meet the demands of a growing economy."
(continued)
#19257040 at 2023-07-28 15:32:31 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #31: MAGIC SWORD - IN THE FACE OF EVIL Edition
Darwin port review 'holds back' China ties
BEN PACKHAM - JULY 28, 2023
Uncertainty over the future of the Chinese-owned Port of Darwin has emerged as a barrier to the restoration of relations with Beijing, which says tensions over the "blue bridge" between the countries could slow the relaxation of trade sanctions on Australian exports.
As Anthony Albanese weighs an invitation to visit Beijing before the end of the year, a senior Chinese government official urged the "quick conclusion" of a review of the port's Chinese ownership, saying the issue was undermining the stabilisation of bilateral ties.
The official said the port's owner, Landbridge, was having difficulties sourcing finance from Chinese banks amid ongoing doubts over its tenure, while the treatment of Chinese investors by the Foreign Investment Review Board remained a key irritant.
The warning came as China's ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, declared relations between the countries were at a "critical juncture" and called on the Albanese government to "stay on the right path to get along".
Despite China's ongoing coercive trade sanctions and its detention of Australians Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun, Mr Xiao said China-Australia relations were "stabilising and improving".
"It is time for the two sides to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by our leaders, uphold the original aspiration of establishing diplomatic ties, and stay on the right path to get along," he said.
Mr Xiao hosted Australian and foreign defence attaches at the Chinese embassy in Canberra on Thursday at a reception to mark the 96th anniversary of the formation of China's People's Liberation Army.
He said the PLA was an "army of victory, discipline and peace", and China's military modernisation "will not pose a threat to any other country".
The officer cadet band from the Royal Military College at Duntroon entertained guests at the function, playing the Chinese and Australian national anthems. Australia was represented by an army brigadier and a senior defence public servant.
A video extolling the PLA's virtues played on large television screens, casting the two million-strong force as "undaunted by danger" and "ready to extend benevolence and love across oceans".
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet confirmed it had completed a review of Landbridge's 99-year lease over the Port of Darwin at the Prime Minister's request.
The review was now under consideration by the government, a PM&C spokesman said.
It follows a previous review for the Morrison government that reportedly found no grounds to overturn the lease, which was originally signed in 2015, although its control of the key strategic asset has been branded by many as a security risk, and an impediment to greater use of Darwin's harbour by the US military.
Beijing is also mains furious at Australia's ban on "high risk" telcos Huawei and ZTE, and government concerns on TikTok and Chinese-made security cameras.
The function came as a Chinese spy ship shadowed Australian and international forces participating in the ADF's biggest exercise, Talisman Sabre.
The Dongdiao-class auxiliary general intelligence vessel is in international waters off the Queensland coast trying to collect information on participating militaries, including those of Australia, the US, and Japan.
Australia's defence relationship with the US is set to be strengthened further at the weekend when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin join Australian counterparts Penny Wong and Richard Marles for AUSMIN talks in Brisbane.
The Chinese government wants Mr Albanese to visit Beijing by the end of the year, but the trip is yet to be finalised amid concerns China is yet to make significant concessions to Australia.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/darwin-port-review-holds-back-china-ties/news-story/f20a8ed95050d88046cc400d3a29f6ac
#18422561 at 2023-02-28 05:51:43 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #27: THEY ARE IN FULL BLOWN PANIC MODE Edition
#27 - Part 31
Australia / China Tensions - Part 6
>>18338130 Former fighter pilot to fight extradition to US - A former US fighter pilot will fight his extradition to the US, following allegations he was providing the Chinese military with air traffic training, in what is set to be a lengthy court battle - Australian citizen Daniel Edmund Duggan, 54, has been in custody for more than 100 days over allegations he received 12 payments of more than $116,000 from a Chinese-based business which was responsible for acquiring military training, equipment and technical data for China's government and military, for "personal development training"
>>18344205 Chinese-made cameras found in 88 MP offices - Eighty-eight Chinese-made surveillance cameras have been found in the offices of federal parliamentarians, with the Department of Finance racing to remove them - The government has confirmed 122 Hikvision or Dahua devices - mainly surveillance cameras and intercoms - have been installed in 88 federal electorate offices, where members of the public come to meet their elected representatives
>>18344255 Ex-marine fights extradition from 'inhumane' prison - The wife of a former US fighter pilot claims he has been locked up in "inhumane conditions" as he fights extradition to the United States to face allegations he aided the Chinese military - Saffrine Duggan said her husband Daniel Duggan had already been kept 115 days in a "tiny cell" in Sydney's Silverwater prison based on US charges that had yet to be tested in court
>>18350532 Australia will tighten laws to stop leaking of military secrets - The federal government will develop new laws to ensure it is illegal for current and former Australian Defence Force personnel to provide military secrets to foreign powers such as China - The new laws come after Australian citizen Daniel Duggan, a former US Marine pilot, was arrested by the Australian Federal Police in October at the request of US authorities who accuse him of helping to train Chinese military pilots to fly fighter jets
>>18363023 Punish China's human rights atrocity: Morrison - Scott Morrison has called on the Albanese government to consider sanctions against Chinese government officials over human rights abuses against Uighur minorities under the same Magnitsky-style laws used to sanction Russian officials over the invasion of Ukraine
>>18363029 Scott Morrison, in Tokyo, to warn China would start war with 'bits and bytes' not bullets - Former prime minister Scott Morrison has warned that any war started by China would not begin with bullets, but with "bits and bytes", and that Beijing would first disable military systems and civil infrastructure
>>18374615 Govt departments removing China-linked CCTV and recording devices - The federal government is quietly stripping out every one of the almost 1000 Hikvision and Dahua devices found in government buildings across the country, as the extent of the links between the two companies and the Chinese Communist Party is revealed
>>18374624 Leaked documents from Canadian spy agency reveal Chinese election interference operation - Australia has been put on alert by Canada's spy agency after it uncovered a Chinese plot to interfere in Justin Trudeau's 2021 election victory
>>18380460 US is spying on you, China tells New Zealand - China has sent a letter to New Zealand MPs accusing the US of "massive, non-discriminate wire-tapping and secret theft operations globally, including against its allies", arguing Washington had used the downing of a Chinese spy balloon as an excuse to impose sanctions on Chinese companies
>>18386784 China is carrying out 'blatant' influence operations in Australia, Malcolm Turnbull says - Australian security agencies know China is carrying out "blatant" influence operations despite the lack of listings on the country's transparency register, the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has told an inquiry - Turnbull said he was "puzzled" the legislation his government introduced was not more rigorously enforced and that officials should not treat it as a "robotic box-ticking exercise"
>>18386818 Federal government blocks access to Darwin Port advice given to Prime Minister's office, citing national security risks - Following Labor's election victory last year, Anthony Albanese announced a fresh review into the circumstances surrounding the 99-year lease of the port to Chinese company Landbridge in 2015 - The federal government has refused to release advice given to the prime minister's office about possible "paths forward" for the Darwin Port on the grounds it could "cause damage to the defence of the Commonwealth"
#18422556 at 2023-02-28 05:50:01 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #27: THEY ARE IN FULL BLOWN PANIC MODE Edition
#27 - Part 28
Australia / China Tensions - Part 3
>>18201574 Australia buys 'potent and powerful' sea mines to deter China - Australia will make its first major investment in sea mines since the Vietnam War, spending up to $1 billion on high-tech underwater weapons to deter China and other potential adversaries from sending ships and submarines into the nation's waters
>>18218678 Australia Speeds Up Purchase of 'Smart' Sea Mines to Deter China - The Australian government is looking to speed up the purchase of a new generation of sea mines to protect its ports amid growing concern over China's military build-up and expanding influence in the Pacific
>>18221196 Fiji's new leader muscles up to Beijing - China's push for dominance in the South Pacific has hit a major stumbling block as newly elected Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka moves to strengthen military and diplomatic ties with Australia and rules out Chinese military training for Fiji's army or police forces
>>18235426 Darwin Port lease remains under scrutiny as PM's department seeks input from national security agencies - The federal government has asked national security agencies for assessments of the Darwin Port as part an ongoing review into the leasing of the facility to Chinese-owned company Landbridge
>>18252314 Solomons Islands centre of battle for influence - Australia is expanding its strategic footprint in Solomon Islands, accelerating works on a new $65m fit-for-purpose multi-storey high commission and $120m logistics hub that will oversee foreign aid delivery and help Western nations compete with China
>>18259789 TikTok flip-flop: Government department bans, then unbans, social media app over spy fears - The Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) has reversed a ban on TikTok on work phones after just one day despite the department's fears the Chinese-owned social media app could be used to gather intelligence
>>18263869 Australia calls for peace after China war warning - Canberra will continue to pursue peace in the Indo-Pacific after a top US general warned Western allies will need to use all possible measures to avoid a war with China - Marine Corps Commandant David Berger said Washington and Canberra would need "everything in the cupboard to prevent a conflict"
>>18263873 AUKUS represents outdated political ideology, won't have extensive appeal - Fei Xue - globaltimes.cn
>>18263878 Change of tone on Taiwan island at France-Australia 2+2 a 'worrying trend' to Asia-Pacific - Zhang Han - globaltimes.cn
>>18263891 Visiting US Marine Corps chief warns 'everything in the cupboard' needed to prevent war with China - United States Marine Corps Commandant General David Berger believes the US and allies such as Australia will need to use "everything in the cupboard" to avoid a conflict over Taiwan
>>18269101 Solomon Islands: US reopens embassy in push to counter China - The US has reopened its Solomon Islands embassy in a move widely seen as shoring up influence in the Pacific to counter China's push into the region - Last year Washington and its allies were blindsided when the tiny nation signed a security deal with Beijing - The Solomons PM did not attend the embassy's opening on Wednesday
>>18269128 Beijing bristles over AUKUS expansion plan - Beijing has denounced a proposal to add Japan and India to the AUKUS defence technology pact, accusing Washington, Canberra and London of "fuelling military confrontation through military collaboration".
>>18269151 Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning's Regular Press Conference on February 1, 2023
>>18275498 Top trade officials of China, Australia to meet virtually next week: MOFCOM - Critical turning point paves way for improved relations - GT staff reporters - globaltimes.cn
>>18275530 Property grab: AFP smashes alleged $10 billion Chinese money laundering operation - Federal agents have dismantled an alleged Chinese-Australian money laundering organisation that moved an estimated $10 billion offshore while amassing a blue-chip property portfolio comprising Sydney mansions, a luxury city building and hundreds of acres of land near Sydney's second airport
>>18282700 AUKUS plan reportedly to be unveiled, but analysts remind Australia 'cautious of being utilized' - GT staff reporters - globaltimes.cn
>>18282805 Video: Donald J. Trump Truth - As President, I took the most dramatic action of any administration to curtail China's ability to conduct espionage in the United States - and when I'm back in the White House, those efforts will be expanded in a very, very big way. Instead of hunting down Republicans, a reformed FBI and Justice Department will be hunting down Chinese spies!
#18386818 at 2023-02-21 08:16:40 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #27: THEY ARE IN FULL BLOWN PANIC MODE Edition
>>18235426
Federal government blocks access to Darwin Port advice given to Prime Minister's office, citing national security risks
Jano Gibson - 21 February 2023
The federal government has refused to release advice given to the prime minister's office about possible "paths forward" for the Darwin Port on the grounds it could "cause damage to the defence of the Commonwealth".
Following Labor's election victory last year, Anthony Albanese announced a fresh review into the circumstances surrounding the 99-year lease of the port to Chinese company Landbridge in 2015.
The review's terms of reference are yet to be disclosed, but a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the ABC last month revealed the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet had asked national security agencies for any assessments of the port conducted in 2022.
The released documents also included a timeline which showed the department had provided advice to the prime minister's office about "paths forward for consideration of the Port of Darwin lease" in September last year.
The ABC sought access to that advice, but the department has now rejected the request, saying the information is exempt under the FOI Act.
In its decision, the department said:
"The document falling within the scope of your request includes material that, if released, would disclose existing arrangements for the security of Commonwealth interests.
"[The department has] formed the view that release of the documents is likely to compromise the safety, protection and defence of those interests, and [it is] satisfied that the documents are exempt in full."
The timeline also showed that the department provided advice to Mr Albanese's office in August last year about a separate Defence review of the port commissioned by the former Morrison government in 2021.
The ABC applied for access to that advice, but it was also refused on the same grounds.
"The document ... includes material that, if released, would reveal [or] compromise defence arrangements and capabilities," the department stated.
The Defence review has never been publicly released, but media reports in December 2021 said it had found no sufficient grounds to overturn Landbridge's lease.
Details of review remain 'classified'
Assistant defence minister Matt Thistlethwaite said the government's multi-agency review of the port was ongoing.
"Some of that information is classified so it's not appropriate for me to discuss it publicly," he said.
"But once that review is conducted, the findings will be handed down, and we'll get on with the job of ensuring we are securing Australia's assets in the north."
Landbridge, which is owned by Shandong-based billionaire Ye Cheng, secured the long-term lease of the port as part of a $506 million deal with the former territory government.
The NT retains ownership of the port and a 20 per cent stake in the lease.
But despite receiving approval from national security agencies at the time, the lease became the subject of controversy as the relationship between the Australian and Chinese governments deteriorated in the years following the signing of the deal.
Landbridge declined to comment on the government's decision to block access to the advice given to Mr Albanese's office last year.
However, the company has previously rejected claims that the Chinese government has any influence over its operations at the Darwin Port, which are managed by an Australian workforce.
"Landbridge would expect the federal government to undertake a comprehensive review using all its agencies to address any concerns it may have," the company said last month.
"The agreement with the NTG has been reviewed a number of times previously and Landbridge's position remains that the lease is a commercial arrangement with the NTG and believes that there are no grounds on which the lease could be disputed."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-21/darwin-port-advice-to-pm-office-blocked-national-security/102000862
#18235430 at 2023-01-27 11:23:52 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #27: THEY ARE IN FULL BLOWN PANIC MODE Edition
>>18235426
2/2
Company 'ready to answer any queries'
Landbridge, which is owned by Shandong-based billionaire Ye Cheng, secured the long-term lease in 2015 as part of a $506 million deal with the NT government (NTG), which still retains ownership of the port and a 20 per cent stake in the lease.
But despite receiving approval from national security agencies at the time, the lease became the subject of controversy as the relationship between the Australian and Chinese governments deteriorated in the years following the signing of the deal.
"People would be aware that it was leased out to a company connected very directly with the government of the People's Republic of China," Mr Albanese said in August last year, adding that he had opposed the lease from the outset.
However, diplomatic tensions between the two countries have improved in recent months, with Mr Albanese meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali in November.
Landbridge has previously rejected claims that the Chinese government has any influence over its operations at the Darwin Port, which are managed by Australian employees, and said there were many "myths and mis-truths" about the lease.
In a statement, the company told the ABC it was "ready to answer any queries" from the government as part of the latest review.
"Landbridge would expect the federal government to undertake a comprehensive review using all its agencies to address any concerns it may have," it said.
"The agreement with the NTG has been reviewed a number of times previously and Landbridge's position remains that the lease is a commercial arrangement with the NTG and believes that there are no grounds on which the lease could be disputed."
It added the company was working in partnership with the NT government "to deliver the services and infrastructure required to drive economic growth in northern Australia."
The ABC asked the department if the review's terms of reference had been finalised, but it said it could not provide further details while the process was underway.
"The government has asked PM&C to review the circumstances surrounding the Port of Darwin, including consideration of the findings and outcomes of previous reviews into the Port of Darwin lease to the Landbridge Group, and advise if their outcomes remain contemporary or if any action is required," a spokesperson said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-27/darwin-port-lease-review-national-security-agencies-consulted/101879668
#18235426 at 2023-01-27 11:22:46 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #27: THEY ARE IN FULL BLOWN PANIC MODE Edition
Darwin Port lease remains under scrutiny as PM's department seeks input from national security agencies
Jano Gibson - 27 January 2023
1/2
The federal government has asked national security agencies for assessments of the Darwin Port as part an ongoing review into the leasing of the facility to Chinese-owned company Landbridge, an internal briefing obtained by the ABC shows.
The briefing - released under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws - was prepared by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) in October last year ahead of budget estimates hearings in parliament.
The five-page document outlines the steps taken by the department after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed in June that he had ordered a fresh review into the "circumstances" of the 99-year lease, which was signed in 2015.
"The department has commenced consultations with Commonwealth agencies and has requested information, reports [and] assessments relating to the Port of Darwin developed in 2022," the briefing states.
It says the requests were sent in October to a range of agencies, including:
- Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- Department of Home Affairs
- Department of Defence
- Office of National Intelligence
- Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
- Attorney-General's Department
The briefing also includes recommended responses "if pressed" at budget estimates on what the review's terms of reference are.
"We are currently reviewing all information that is available in relation to the lease of the Port of Darwin to inform our review," it suggests saying.
"This will enable the department to advise the government about what the terms of a review could be and timelines to complete the review."
Landbridge requests input into review
The briefing says Landbridge wrote to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in October last year "seeking advice on the nature and scope" of the review.
It says the company also asked whether it would be provided an opportunity to respond to the review, but the briefing does not disclose the outcome of the request.
In August last year, Landbridge told the ABC it was not consulted as part of a previous national security assessment conducted by Defence at the request of the former Coalition government.
The Defence assessment has never been publicly released, but media reports in December 2021 said it did not find sufficient grounds to overturn the lease.
The briefing notes Landbridge's lease covers only a "small portion of the harbour precinct", including the East Arm Wharf, which is mainly used for commercial vessels, and the Fort Hill Wharf, which is primarily used by cruise ships.
It also says there are several "publicly known protections for Australia's interests in the Port of Darwin".
These include the Defence Act, which gives Defence the power to access the port, as well as provisions within Landbridge's lease that can be enforced by the NT government, it says.
(continued)
#17426578 at 2022-08-22 09:34:18 (UTC+1)
Q Research Australia #25: My Koala Hates Spam Too Edition
National security review of Darwin Port to remain secret, but Defence releases 'talking points'
Jano Gibson - 22 August 2022
A national security review of a Chinese-owned company's lease of Darwin Port will remain secret, after the Defence Department refused a Freedom of Information request for its findings.
Instead, a series of "talking points" given to the former Coalition government have been released, shedding light on the range of questions it expected to face, and how they should be answered.
Chinese-owned company Landbridge signed a 99-year lease for the strategically important asset in 2015, prompting security concerns about the $500 million arrangement.
In May last year - amid escalating tensions with the Chinese government - the then defence minister Peter Dutton confirmed the National Security Committee of Cabinet had tasked his department with providing new security advice, and assessing the implications of the controversial lease.
Seven months later, in late December, media reports suggested Defence had identified no concerns sufficient to revoke the lease.
However, the review was never publicly released.
The ABC sought access to the review following the election of the Labor government in May this year.
But Defence has refused to release 10 documents that fell within the scope of the request, including two "risk assessments" conducted in 2021 and a "presentation" prepared in February this year.
Defence said the material was exempt because it had been created for cabinet.
It said it had consulted with the Department of Prime Minister and cabinet, which supported its decision.
AUKUS impact included in 'talking points'
While the review wasn't released, Defence agreed to provide three other documents, including "Whole of Government Talking Points", which were prepared in January this year.
The talking points included a series of potential questions that might come from journalists, including:
- Will the government act on Defence advice that the Landbridge lease is not a security threat and conclude the review?
- Is the lease of the Port of Darwin a national security threat?
- Who is leading the review? Which agencies are involved in the Port of Darwin review?
- Will government publicly announce the review's outcomes? If so, when will this occur?
- Has government engaged with any external stakeholders on the review (international partners, NT government, Landbridge)?
- Will the AUKUS security partnership have any impact on Landbridge's lease of the Port of Darwin?
Government members were advised to make no comments due to the national security implications of the review process, other than to say:
- Defence and other agencies had been engaged to provide advice on the Darwin Port
- The review process was ongoing and no decision had yet been made about the lease
- The review included the departments of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Foreign Affairs and Trade, Home Affairs and the national intelligence community
- The AUKUS partnership and Landbridge's lease of the Darwin Port were unrelated.
Findings of separate port review to be made public, Albanese says
The talking points also noted that then prime minister Scott Morrison had previously stated in April 2021 that he would "act accordingly" if he received advice from Defence or security agencies that "changed their view about the national security implications of any piece of critical infrastructure".
The FOI documents show updated talking points were requested by Mr Dutton's office in March this year.
An additional response was then included to say: "Information relating to the review into the Port of Darwin is classified, and a matter that is still in process".
Today, Mr Albanese said he would publicly release the findings of his government's separate review into the lease.
"People would be aware that it was leased out to a company connected very directly with the government of the People's Republic of China," he said.
"At the time that happened, we opposed it, I was the shadow [infrastructure] minister at the time. And we were concerned about that, and we expressed our opposition.
"I have asked for advice and when we receive it, we of course will make it public."
The port deal became a flashpoint during this year's federal election campaign, when Labor leader Anthony Albanese blasted Mr Morrison for not trying to block the NT government from leasing the facility in 2015 when he was the Treasurer.
Following Labor's election victory, Mr Albanese confirmed in June that his government had commissioned the new review of the Darwin Port lease.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-22/nt-darwin-port-foi/101354854
#16729070 at 2022-07-14 07:58:42 (UTC+1)
Q Research Australia #25: My Koala Hates Spam Too Edition
>>16729061
2/2
Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Albanese said Australia "doesn't respond to demands" when asked about China's list.
"We respond to our own national interest," Mr Albanese said on Monday.
In its editorial, The Global Times said Australia's concern with values made "China feel very strange".
"We really hope that Australia can truly put its own national interests first, and at the same time we want to point out that it's up to Australia as to what kind of values it wants to hold and China has no intention of interfering and changing Australia's values. To be honest, Australia always emphasises this concern, which makes China feel very strange," the party-state masthead wrote.
It said "Canberra fired the 'first shot' in undermining China-Australia relations," marking the trigger as the Turnbull government's decision to ban Chinese provider Huawei from Australia's 5G network in 2018.
"Australia is the first country in the world to ban Huawei and other Chinese suppliers from providing 5G equipment, it has also served as a belligerent voice in provoking China on a series of issues related to Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Which of these actions that harm China-Australia relations is in Australia's actual interests?" the Global Times wrote.
Australian public sentiment soured profoundly during the almost three years that Beijing imposed its ministerial freeze, black-listed Australian exports worth $20 billion-a-year and imprisoned two Australians, Cheng Lei and Dr Yang Hengjun.
A recent Lowy poll found Australians' trust in China had plunged to just 12 per cent, down from 52 per cent in 2018.
A separate poll by the Australia-China Relations Institute found a majority of Australians wanted their government to take a "harder line" with China.
The same ACRI poll found almost 60 per cent of Australians surveyed wanted the government to force Chinese company Landbridge to sell the Port of Darwin, which it took control of in 2015. Only 13 per cent of those surveyed disagreed.
A fortnight ago, the Chinese party-state's other English language masthead China Daily accused Mr Albanese of a "lack of diplomatic nous and poor grasp of political realities", after he made a link between Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Beijing's threats to Taiwan.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/beijing-says-antichina-forces-manipulating-anthony-albanese/news-story/3ad0a1afd2010ebf25de5f367cf1ce13
#16701755 at 2022-07-10 01:23:44 (UTC+1)
Q Research Australia #25: My Koala Hates Spam Too Edition
#23 and #24 - Part 20
Australia / China Tensions - Part 5
>>16403494 Hyping PLA's 'dangerous intercept,' who is Australia performing to again? Global Times editorial - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>16403499 PLA aircraft deal with Canadian, Australian provocative close-in recon in East and South China Seas - Western countries 'complain first while being the ones who are guilty in the first place' - Guo Yuandan, Liu Xuanzun and Hu Jinyang - globaltimes.cn
>>16403509 Australia's military provocations on China, accusations of PLA's legitimate countermeasures reflect own anxiety - Liu Xuanzun - globaltimes.cn
>>16403524 Inside Andrews Government's weekly meetings with China - The Andrews Government asked for Beijing's input on PPE supplies and Victoria's aged care system, sparking accusations of "sneaky deals"
>>16408416 China warns Australia to stop 'dangerous' actions over the South China Sea after RAAF interception
>>16408431 Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China - Chinese defense spokesperson, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, responds to Australia's hype of China-Australia military aircraft encounter
>>16408480 Video: Man who struck police horse and threw traffic bollard at officer during Melbourne lockdown protests pleads guilty
>>16413268 Port of Darwin lease to be reviewed: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed a review of the lease of the Port of Darwin will be undertaken, raising fresh questions over the future of the 99-year lease by Chinese-owned company Landbridge
>>16418546 China's military aggression is risking disaster - Peter Jennings - theaustralian.com.au
>>16418573 Police probe into Chinese money laundering syndicate headquartered in Australia - Australian law enforcement agencies, in partnership with officials from the United States and Canada, have also compiled intelligence that suggests Chinese companies and brokers are supplying the vast majority of precursor chemicals used to make illicit drugs on the Australian market
>>16418585 China-Solomon Islands security deal could lead to a 'difficult' situation for Australian troops in Honiara, says James Batley, former Australian high commissioner to the Solomon Islands
>>16418588 Video: The Solomon Islands, China and their ambitions for the Pacific - ABC News (Australia)
>>16424915 The illegal transfer of nuclear weapons materials involved in AUKUS cannot be denied: Chinese envoy - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>16424947 Trade Minister Don Farrell's bid to end China row - Trade Minister Don Farrell will issue an invitation to meet with his Chinese counterpart to try to break the damaging two-year trade war against Australian ?exporters, amid heightened geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Canberra
>>16430029 Australian defence minister warns China risks sparking arms race - Richard Marles outlines vision of economic cooperation and military deterrence but warns lack of transparency can upset balance
>>16430047 Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles castigates China for its military build-up in the South China Sea in his first major speech on the global stage, accusing Beijing of readying to challenge by force the sovereignty of neighbouring countries
>>16430064 China's 'dangerous' behaviour towards RAAF planes should 'worry us all', United States Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin says
>>16430076 China slams theory coronavirus originated from Chinese lab leak - China has slammed the controversial 'lab leak' theory as the World Health Organisation calls for a deeper probe into the pandemic's origin
>>16430086 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on June 10, 2022
>>16430130 Chinese Consulate General in Sydney Tweet: Video: Ties between the Australian and Chinese people are very strong, which is good for the improvement of the two countries' relationship, former Australian ambassador to China Geoff Raby has said.
#16655191 at 2022-07-07 08:47:18 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #24: TRUMP CARD COMING Edition
#23 - Part 19
Australia / China Tensions - Part 5
>>16403494 Hyping PLA's 'dangerous intercept,' who is Australia performing to again? Global Times editorial - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>16403499 PLA aircraft deal with Canadian, Australian provocative close-in recon in East and South China Seas - Western countries 'complain first while being the ones who are guilty in the first place' - Guo Yuandan, Liu Xuanzun and Hu Jinyang - globaltimes.cn
>>16403509 Australia's military provocations on China, accusations of PLA's legitimate countermeasures reflect own anxiety - Liu Xuanzun - globaltimes.cn
>>16403524 Inside Andrews Government's weekly meetings with China - The Andrews Government asked for Beijing's input on PPE supplies and Victoria's aged care system, sparking accusations of "sneaky deals"
>>16408416 China warns Australia to stop 'dangerous' actions over the South China Sea after RAAF interception
>>16408431 Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China - Chinese defense spokesperson, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, responds to Australia's hype of China-Australia military aircraft encounter
>>16408480 Video: Man who struck police horse and threw traffic bollard at officer during Melbourne lockdown protests pleads guilty
>>16413268 Port of Darwin lease to be reviewed: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed a review of the lease of the Port of Darwin will be undertaken, raising fresh questions over the future of the 99-year lease by Chinese-owned company Landbridge
>>16418546 China's military aggression is risking disaster - Peter Jennings - theaustralian.com.au
>>16418573 Police probe into Chinese money laundering syndicate headquartered in Australia - Australian law enforcement agencies, in partnership with officials from the United States and Canada, have also compiled intelligence that suggests Chinese companies and brokers are supplying the vast majority of precursor chemicals used to make illicit drugs on the Australian market
>>16418585 China-Solomon Islands security deal could lead to a 'difficult' situation for Australian troops in Honiara, says James Batley, former Australian high commissioner to the Solomon Islands
>>16418588 Video: The Solomon Islands, China and their ambitions for the Pacific - ABC News (Australia)
>>16424915 The illegal transfer of nuclear weapons materials involved in AUKUS cannot be denied: Chinese envoy - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>16424947 Trade Minister Don Farrell's bid to end China row - Trade Minister Don Farrell will issue an invitation to meet with his Chinese counterpart to try to break the damaging two-year trade war against Australian ?exporters, amid heightened geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Canberra
>>16430029 Australian defence minister warns China risks sparking arms race - Richard Marles outlines vision of economic cooperation and military deterrence but warns lack of transparency can upset balance
>>16430047 Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles castigates China for its military build-up in the South China Sea in his first major speech on the global stage, accusing Beijing of readying to challenge by force the sovereignty of neighbouring countries
>>16430064 China's 'dangerous' behaviour towards RAAF planes should 'worry us all', United States Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin says
>>16430076 China slams theory coronavirus originated from Chinese lab leak - China has slammed the controversial 'lab leak' theory as the World Health Organisation calls for a deeper probe into the pandemic's origin
>>16430086 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on June 10, 2022
>>16430130 Chinese Consulate General in Sydney Tweet: Video: Ties between the Australian and Chinese people are very strong, which is good for the improvement of the two countries' relationship, former Australian ambassador to China Geoff Raby has said.
#16586891 at 2022-07-03 10:04:29 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #23: HOUSE OF CARDS Edition
>>16586888
4/4
The controversial Landbridge lease is a particular problem given what we know about China's port-base strategy which is completely at odds with the objectives of our defence, aid and foreign policies. With pressure on the Albanese government to step up northern Australia's defences, the Landbridge lease is a serious obstacle to developing Darwin Harbour into a major naval base and alliance hub. Taking back this lease on national interest grounds would send a clear message to our Pacific neighbours that our actions are consistent with our rhetoric.
The Prime Minister has an opportunity to take a leadership position in a democratic push-back against China's port-base strategy. He should start by adding Australia's major ports to the list of critical infrastructure, and barring foreign companies from owning, leasing or operating them.
Albanese should also advocate for an international port's initiative off the back of the G7's recently announced $US600bn Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment which is designed to give developing countries a democratic alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative.
The port initiative would require investor countries and companies to submit transparent, high-standard development proposals. These should demonstrably benefit the people of host countries and preclude foreign control, especially the establishment of exclusive, de facto sovereign enclaves. Loans should not exceed the capacity of developing countries to pay and debt for equity swaps would be proscribed.
Albanese should move quickly to build on the previous government's Pacific Step-up because the G7 infrastructure and investment partnership won't come on stream until 2027 and there are no guarantees that the funds will be forthcoming.
Trade is another area that needs attention. We have performed poorly here by allowing China a free hand. Solomon Islands is illustrative. While China increased its share of the country's exports more than five-fold to 64.4 per cent between 2000 and 2020, Australia's share declined from 2.8 per cent to a paltry 1.1 per cent. Small wonder that Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare is beholden to Xi.
Albanese also needs to reverse the decline in Australia's regional hard power. This means expanding the reach and reconfiguring the posture of the defence force, particularly in northern Australia. We should never have allowed ourselves to be in a position where the navy cannot adequately respond to the presence of Chinese warships in our Exclusive Economic Zone because our Perth and Sydney based frigates are five to six-days steaming time away from our northern waters.
Alan Dupont is chief executive of geopolitical risk consultancy The Cognoscenti Group and a non-resident fellow at the Lowy Institute.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/enter-the-naval-dragon-china-can-already-control-most-ofour-region/news-story/8b254d067b70b5791901d88c13c64aba
#16586886 at 2022-07-03 10:03:21 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #23: HOUSE OF CARDS Edition
>>16586884
2/4
Its goals may be even more ambitious. Leading American strategist Aaron Friedberg writes in the US Naval Institute Proceedings that if China can "undermine US alliances in East Asia, push US forces back to the second island chain, and assert control over the waters of the western Pacific it will be well-positioned to construct a new Eurasian order". This would be a Sino-centric system in which China's "continental and maritime neighbours" are economically dependent on and politically subordinate to China "and from which the US is largely excluded".
Until recently, the major constraint on China's expanding maritime clout has been the lack of access to ports and supporting infrastructure that can serve as strategic access points. Without them, China's formidable new navy would be largely confined to its home waters.
England ruled the waves in the 19th century because it had a world class navy and an empire to support it. China doesn't yet have an empire. But it has begun to create the next best thing - a string of port facilities and military bases that could eventually rival the extensive network of overseas bases and places that enable America to project and sustain power globally.
Of the 95 commercial port facilities overseas which China owns, leases or otherwise controls 21 are in the Pacific, 25 in the Indian Ocean, 31 in the Atlantic and 16 in the Mediterranean. The leases include two Australian ports. Darwin is operated by the Chinese-owned Landbridge Group on a 99-year lease. China Merchants Port Holdings company is a 50 per cent partner in a consortium that owns and operates the port of Newcastle on a 98-year lease.
Many of these ports are located near strategically important waterways and potential chokepoints such as the Malacca Strait, the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Strait of ?Gibraltar. Chinese state-linked companies even help to operate and maintain the Panama Canal raising concerns that in the event of a conflict with the US, the Peoples Liberation Army could deny the US navy access to the canal.
An analysis of China's port strategy for The Washington Times by veteran national security correspondent Bill Gertz makes clear that Beijing's geo-economic objectives are to gain control over international shipping hubs, guarantee markets for Chinese goods, expand China's influence, consolidate its control of supply chains, increase the number of pressure points that can be brought to bear on recalcitrant states, and create economic dependencies.
It's equally clear that China's commercial and military objectives are completely intertwined - explicitly so under its "military-civilian fusion" program. This aims to eliminate barriers between China's civilian research and commercial sectors, and its military and defence industrial sectors. Where possible, commercial ports and airfields constructed by Chinese companies are built to military specifications so they can support the country's navy and air force.
Retired US navy captain Stu Cvrk says that China's port network is part of a wider strategy that includes "ringing and neutralising rival India, shifting the military balance in the Middle East from the US to China, and eventually providing strategic port encirclement" of the US itself.
But China can't achieve these ambitious aims through control of commercial port facilities alone. That's why it has embarked on a critical second phase of the strategy - the establishment of stand-alone military bases or dual-purpose facilities that have military utility.
In 2017, China opened its first overseas military base in Djibouti which is strategically located near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the confluence of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean and within easy sailing distance of vital oil shipping routes running through the Strait of Hormuz. A second, more controversial Chinese military facility is being built in Cambodia's Ream naval base in the Gulf of Thailand.
In 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported that China had signed a secret agreement to allow its military to use the base. Commercial satellite imagery shows the site being extensively redeveloped and expanded.
(continued)
#16413268 at 2022-06-08 10:13:06 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #23: HOUSE OF CARDS Edition
Port of Darwin lease to be reviewed: Anthony Albanese
James Massola - June 8, 2022
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed a review of the lease of the Port of Darwin will be undertaken, raising fresh questions over the future of the 99-year lease by Chinese-owned company Landbridge.
During the election campaign, Albanese blasted the 2015 decision to lease the port for 99 years to Landbridge for $506 million.
A review of the lease by the Defence department ordered by the Morrison government reportedly found late last year that there were insufficient national security grounds to overturn the lease.
Any move to scrap the lease would probably further damage relations between Canberra and Beijing, which are already in a parlous state, primarily due to China's economic sanctions on Australian goods and a recent incident involving an Australian surveillance plane and Chinese fighter jet.
During a press conference alongside Northern Territory's Labor Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, Albanese gave his most definitive statement yet when asked whether his government would look again at the controversial lease of the port.
"What I've said is what I said prior to the election - and I will do what I said I would do on this and every other issue - which is we'll have a review of the circumstances of the Port," he said.
"The chief minister is conscious of the fact that we will do that, and we'll do that in an orderly way."
NT Labor used the lease to campaign against the Country Liberal Party during the federal election and successfully retained both lower house seats in a tight result.
Albanese also said he was prepared to use the federal government's foreign veto laws to cancel contracts between Australian entities and Chinese state-owned companies.
"We supported the change in the Foreign Relations Bill. They went through [the parliament] with our support and hence, we believe that the federal government should be in charge of our foreign relations. That's why we supported that legislation, we'll always take the advice of DFAT on any issues which arise."
Both major parties have committed to a $1.5 billion promise for new, separate port facilities in the Middle Arm precinct of the harbour and that development is being treated separately from the Landbridge-leased Port.
The seven-year-old lease became a flash point during the second debate of the recent federal election campaign, with Albanese criticising the former government for its handling of the matter.
"When I was a minister, we put US Marines into Darwin. When you have been a minister we have had the Port of Darwin sold to a company connected with the Chinese Communist Party," he said at the time.
Scott Morrison denied the federal government could have played a role in stopping the lease. However, Defence or security agencies could have raised concerns about the lease at the time if they had any, but none were identified.
Former US president Barack Obama expressed concern about the lease at the time, while China hawks in the Defence establishment have also questioned the leasing of the Port undertaken by the former NT Liberal government.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/port-of-darwin-lease-to-be-reviewed-anthony-albanese-20220608-p5as1e.html
#16040663 at 2022-04-09 05:21:56 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #22: THIS IS NOT ANOTHER 3-YEAR ELECTION Edition
#21 - Part 17
Australia / China Tensions - Part 3
>>15795597 US sees Ukraine war as China test run, says Australian Liberal Senator James Paterson
>>15802873 PM's chilling warning to Australia on 'arc of autocracy' amid China, Russia tensions
>>15802887 Video: Scott Morrison says China must push Russia for peace in Ukraine
>>15802915 Kim Bowei Lee, Gold Coast accountant allegedly involved in plot to traffic military hardware from Russia to China is "shocked and distressed" over being charged by police - His lawyer claims he is neither a "smuggler nor a spy"
>>15802935 Heroic act of police officer Kelly Foster, who drowned when attempting to help Chinese woman Jennifer Qi, brings Australian, Chinese families together - xinhuanet.com
>>15810390 Australia cannot afford overreaching on Taiwan question - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>15810400 China should be on alert over Australia's future nuclear-submarine base: experts - Xu Keyue - globaltimes.cn
>>15812783 China accuses Australia of 'sinister' plot - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi casts Australia as the US's most loyal accomplice in a "sinister" strategy to constrain the rising power with an "Indo-Pacific version of NATO"
>>15812847 Chinese-owned, consistently loss-making Port of Darwin continuing to trade as a "going concern" only thanks to a fresh letter of financial support from its Chinese government-backed owner, the Shandong Landbridge Group - "Its non-current borrowings at balance date were $666m."
>>15827045 Marise Payne meets China's new ambassador Xiao Qian
>>15836505 Ambassador Xiao Qian meets with former Australian politicians and well-known scholars - Paul Keating, John Howard, Bob Carr and James Laurenceson - au.china-embassy.org
>>15836540 Australia's military buildup 'controlled by US,' risks nuclear contamination - Leng Shumei - globaltimes.cn
>>15842310 China's Defence Ministry says Australia will "suffer the worst consequences" if it offers military support to Taiwan
>>15842328 Video: Chinese defense spokesperson Senior Colonel Tan Kefei: Australia has no business interfering Taiwan question
>>15852724 Australia's vaccine diplomacy in Pacific islands wards off Beijing - PM Morrison
>>15859676 China's foreign policy verges on catastrophic - Alexander Downer - afr.com
>>15889856 Dutton presses Xi to lean on Putin, as he foreshadows conflict in Asia-Pacific
>>15889886 Video: PM says China supplying weapons to Russia an 'abomination' - 9 News Australia
>>15889889 Morrison clamors for China sanctions, but ignores abomination of Australia - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>15911774 Creation of an Australian Space Force opens up a new frontier, says Peter Dutton
>>15911815 Defence Minister Peter Dutton flags future US-style Space Force for Australia
>>15916612 Chinese, Russian space capabilities 'scare' new Australian space commander
>>15924286 Australia's north open to attack: US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral John Aquilino says Australia's north is under threat amid the most concerning security challenge in the region in recent years
>>15924299 US Indo-Pacific Command leader Admiral John Aquilino says China has fully militarized islands in the disputed South China Sea
>>15924338 China must engage Australia to boost CPTPP chances, trade minister Dan Tehan says
>>15924342 GT Voice: Australia undermines CPTPP in desperate pursuit of talks with China - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>15932351 Australia sets up space command against China, a 'political show risks arms race' - Liu Xuanzun and Guo Yuandan - globaltimes.cn
>>15932355 Does Australia's Defence Space Command want to confront China? - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>15932366 China's Ambassador Xiao Qian is seeking friendship again but its Foreign Ministry still rails against Australia
>>15939896 Solomon Islands and China in military pact - A draft security co-operation agreement between China and the Solomon Islands would allow Chinese military forces to be deployed in the Pacific Island nation
#16040582 at 2022-04-09 05:06:54 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #21: MIL-CIV ALLIANCE Edition
#21 - Part 17
Australia / China Tensions - Part 3
>>15795597 US sees Ukraine war as China test run, says Australian Liberal Senator James Paterson
>>15802873 PM's chilling warning to Australia on 'arc of autocracy' amid China, Russia tensions
>>15802887 Video: Scott Morrison says China must push Russia for peace in Ukraine
>>15802915 Kim Bowei Lee, Gold Coast accountant allegedly involved in plot to traffic military hardware from Russia to China is "shocked and distressed" over being charged by police - His lawyer claims he is neither a "smuggler nor a spy"
>>15802935 Heroic act of police officer Kelly Foster, who drowned when attempting to help Chinese woman Jennifer Qi, brings Australian, Chinese families together - xinhuanet.com
>>15810390 Australia cannot afford overreaching on Taiwan question - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>15810400 China should be on alert over Australia's future nuclear-submarine base: experts - Xu Keyue - globaltimes.cn
>>15812783 China accuses Australia of 'sinister' plot - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi casts Australia as the US's most loyal accomplice in a "sinister" strategy to constrain the rising power with an "Indo-Pacific version of NATO"
>>15812847 Chinese-owned, consistently loss-making Port of Darwin continuing to trade as a "going concern" only thanks to a fresh letter of financial support from its Chinese government-backed owner, the Shandong Landbridge Group - "Its non-current borrowings at balance date were $666m."
>>15827045 Marise Payne meets China's new ambassador Xiao Qian
>>15836505 Ambassador Xiao Qian meets with former Australian politicians and well-known scholars - Paul Keating, John Howard, Bob Carr and James Laurenceson - au.china-embassy.org
>>15836540 Australia's military buildup 'controlled by US,' risks nuclear contamination - Leng Shumei - globaltimes.cn
>>15842310 China's Defence Ministry says Australia will "suffer the worst consequences" if it offers military support to Taiwan
>>15842328 Video: Chinese defense spokesperson Senior Colonel Tan Kefei: Australia has no business interfering Taiwan question
>>15852724 Australia's vaccine diplomacy in Pacific islands wards off Beijing - PM Morrison
>>15859676 China's foreign policy verges on catastrophic - Alexander Downer - afr.com
>>15889856 Dutton presses Xi to lean on Putin, as he foreshadows conflict in Asia-Pacific
>>15889886 Video: PM says China supplying weapons to Russia an 'abomination' - 9 News Australia
>>15889889 Morrison clamors for China sanctions, but ignores abomination of Australia - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>15911774 Creation of an Australian Space Force opens up a new frontier, says Peter Dutton
>>15911815 Defence Minister Peter Dutton flags future US-style Space Force for Australia
>>15916612 Chinese, Russian space capabilities 'scare' new Australian space commander
>>15924286 Australia's north open to attack: US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral John Aquilino says Australia's north is under threat amid the most concerning security challenge in the region in recent years
>>15924299 US Indo-Pacific Command leader Admiral John Aquilino says China has fully militarized islands in the disputed South China Sea
>>15924338 China must engage Australia to boost CPTPP chances, trade minister Dan Tehan says
>>15924342 GT Voice: Australia undermines CPTPP in desperate pursuit of talks with China - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>15932351 Australia sets up space command against China, a 'political show risks arms race' - Liu Xuanzun and Guo Yuandan - globaltimes.cn
>>15932355 Does Australia's Defence Space Command want to confront China? - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>15932366 China's Ambassador Xiao Qian is seeking friendship again but its Foreign Ministry still rails against Australia
>>15939896 Solomon Islands and China in military pact - A draft security co-operation agreement between China and the Solomon Islands would allow Chinese military forces to be deployed in the Pacific Island nation
#15982091 at 2022-03-31 10:51:45 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #21: MIL-CIV ALLIANCE Edition
Australia's big new move on China: Major announcement expected
COURTNEY GOULD - MARCH 31, 2022
The door has been left open to building a new port facility in Darwin port amid concerns over a Chinese company leasing the existing port.
A Defence review found there was no national security grounds to recommend the Morrison government to overturn the port's 99-year agreement with China's Landbridge Group.
Buried in a media release from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was the inclusion of $1.5bn for "new port infrastructure" in Darwin.
Asked if it was for a new Darwin port, to be announced as an election commitment, Defence Minister Peter Dutton did not rule it out.
"There's a massive commitment from the government into the Northern Territory and that does look at port development and ways in which we might be able to look at support through contracts in defence for example," Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra.
"We will have more to say about that in due course."
The new infrastructure could allow for a bypass of the Chinese-owned port.
But Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said it would be built outside of the geographical area leased by Landbridge.
Department officials told an estimates committee on Thursday the funding would be used for port infrastructure, such as offloading facilities and dredging of the shipping channel.
It would be partially funded as part of the government's wider regional investment package.
The plan is still subject to ongoing business case and feasibility studies.
Senator Birmingham also skirted questions about whether the decision to fund the new port facilities was made before or after the Department of Defence review.
But he said defence was not the primary consideration in the matter.
"This port is for economic development," Senator Birmingham said.
"It may also have benefits for defence, they're not to be discounted."
"It helps with regional development aspects of the territory, it is very much about providing jobs and exports in that region."
During the estimates hearing, the prime minister's department was quizzed about the Solomon Islands' planned security deal with China.
Officials declined to say when they were first made aware of the agreement but did confirm Scott Morrison was in communication with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare via text message about Australia's concerns.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/australias-big-new-move-on-china-major-announcement-expected/news-story/7dfdd564798873f3e2dc3c2605b6f749
#15812847 at 2022-03-08 17:49:38 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #21: MIL-CIV ALLIANCE Edition
>>15680454
Port kept afloat by Chinese support
CHRISTINE LACY - MARCH 9, 2022
The Chinese-owned, consistently loss-making Port of Darwin is continuing to trade as a "going concern" only thanks to a fresh letter of financial support from its Chinese government-backed owner, the Shandong Landbridge Group.
Documents filed with the Australian corporate regulator and seen by Margin Call reveal that the critical north Australian infrastructure, which is owned by a local subsidiary to the Chinese parent, Landbridge Infrastructure Australia, lost $55.6m in the 2021 financial year.
Landbridge bought the port from the NT government via a 99-year lease six years ago for $506m and since then has failed to turn a profit.
Cumulative losses for the group now total about $205m, with Shandong being forced to sign a "letter of support" indicating that it will provide sufficient financial assistance to the port operator at least for the 2022 ?financial year.
Without this letter of comfort, the company's auditor, PwC, would have been unlikely to sign off on the Landbridge ?accounts prepared on a going concern basis.
Chinese parent Shandong is controlled by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, who has strong links to the Chinese Communist Party.
The businessman is also a ?director of the group's Australian subsidiary company.
Ye, 61, is estimated by Forbes to be worth $US1.6bn ($2.18bn). His Shandong Landbridge Group, which is headquartered in the city of Rizhao in Shandong Province, is active in petrochemicals, logistics, trade and, of course, ports.
Since balance date a new local chief executive to the Landbridge Australian operations, Matthew Wallach, has been appointed. Wallach's arrival follows the departure of Michael Hughes, who had been with the group since 2014.
In the year, the port company moved to write off the value of its massive debt by $38.4m.
Its non-current borrowings at balance date were $666m.
Revenue in the year was virtually steady at $53.8m, up from $51.9m.
"Whilst port facilities and operations have not been interrupted by Covid-19 throughout the financial year, trade volumes and vessel traffic through the port has been impacted," the local accounts reveal.
The port supports the import and export of bulk dry goods, raw minerals, petroleum, livestock, vehicles, containers and general cargo. It is also the main terminal for cruise ships that dock at Darwin and supports the defence industry by providing berthage for the Australian Navy.
Awarding the lease to the Chinese has been controversial. However, a recent Defence Department review found there were no national security grounds sufficient to recommend a government intervention to overturn the lease.
The accounts reveal that without the financial support of its Chinese parent, any decline in Landbridge's cashflow could be dire for the local company.
"In the unlikely event that the group experiences an unexpected shortfall in cashflows, the group has received a letter of support from Shandong Landbridge Group Co Limited, the parent company, that it will provide sufficient financial assistance to the group as and when it is needed to enable the group to continue its operations and fulfil all of its financial obligations," the accounts state.
Nothing like having friends in high places.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/margin-call/port-kept-afloat-by-chinese-support/news-story/e040a5f638ce197ad2eea932ca480629
#15680454 at 2022-02-21 06:32:00 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #21: MIL-CIV ALLIANCE Edition
US military asset to be linked to controversial Port of Darwin via fuel pipeline
Henry Belot - 21 February 2022
A US military asset currently under construction will be linked via a fuel pipeline to the controversial Port of Darwin, raising more national security concerns about the wharf controlled by Chinese company Landbridge.
Work on the $270 million East Arm fuel storage facility began last month and, by late next year, it is expected to be able to hold 300 million litres of fuel, supporting the expansion of American military presence in the Northern Territory and Indo-Pacific.
The previously unreported link comes amid heightened tensions between Beijing and Canberra, and as the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader openly criticise the port's $506 million lease and consider whether it should be cancelled.
Construction of the fuel farm is being managed by the Florida-based company Crowley Solutions.
Its vice-president, Sean Thomas, said that military fuel would be dispensed and collected through the Port of Darwin.
"We will have a pipeline connecting our facility to the petroleum, oils and lubricants berth at the port, at which ships employed by the US government will either take receipt of fuel or issue fuel into the facility," Mr Thomas said.
Labor senator Kimberley Kitching said that was a concern, as it could give a Beijing-linked company access to sensitive military activity, such as the storage of military fuel.
There is no publicly available evidence so far that operations could be observed by foreign officials at the port nor that sensitive information could be passed back to the Chinese government, but there are bipartisan concerns that that is possible.
"If Landbridge remains in ownership of the Port of Darwin, then there [will be] fuel pipelines that are necessary for the refuelling of US and allied ships," said Senator Kitching, who chairs the Senate's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee.
"Obviously, they would have access to them. That is a problem. If you are going to be pumping fuel and a situation develops, there might be a strategic issue.
"No one expected a Chinese navy ship in recent days to use a military laser to target and Australian defence plane. We just don't know what is going to happen."
Landbridge has previously insisted its interests are purely commercial and has been contacted for comment.
Port ownership review ongoing
In October, Defence completed a national security review of the Port of Darwin and is now consulting with other agencies, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, before a final recommendation is made to government.
On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he opposed the sale of the port and that he would not hesitate to cancel the contract if advised to do so by Defence and intelligence agencies.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said there was a case "for strategic assets in the national interest to remain in Australian hands".
Defence and security analyst Alan Dupont said the 99-year lease of a strategic port to a Chinese subsidiary company was controversial, but manageable.
"It's essentially a political risk, rather than security risk," he said.
"There's no doubt there's a perception problem, particularly outside Australia, that the Chinese own Darwin Harbour or the Port of Darwin and that's clearly not correct."
Mr Dupont does not expect an announcement from the federal government any time soon.
"The government itself is divided on the merits, or otherwise, of taking the lease back and, therefore, the last thing that probably the Prime Minister wants is an internal ruckus within his cabinet before an election," Mr Dupont said.
A spokesman for the Northern Territory government said it played a role in the leasing of land for the fuel farm and that it had not been advised of national security concerns.
The ABC has approached the Defence Department, asking how it judges the risk of having a Chinese-owned company responsible for handling fuel destined for the US military.
The Defence Minister Peter Dutton's office was also approached for comment.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-21/us-military-asset-link-port-of-darwin-Landbridge/100847070
#15592256 at 2022-02-10 08:43:24 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #21: MIL-CIV ALLIANCE Edition
#20 - Part 8
Australia / China Tensions - Part 1
>>15180162 China's response to Aukus deal was 'irrational', Peter Dutton says - Defence minister accuses Beijing of 'bullying' over criticisms of Australia's pact with the US and UK
>>15180167 Video: Dutton: China's reaction to AUKUS was 'irrational' - Sky News Australia
>>15185171 Video: Australia to acquire new weapons under billion-dollar defence deal with South Korea - Defence Minister Peter Dutton touted the deal as a boost for Australian firepower and security in the Indo-Pacific
>>15201098 Huawei 'helped create' tech for China's state surveillance and 're-educating' of Uighurs
>>15201101 Australia's 5G Huawei ban 'the right move' for security: US tech billionaire Michael Dell, founder and chief executive of Dell Technologies
>>15206664 Royal Australian Navy expects new Evolved Cape Class patrol boats could be delayed by up to nine months, costing extra $44 million, after poor-quality aluminium was imported from China
>>15206972 Chinese Spies Accused of Using Huawei in Secret Australia Telecom Hack - Software update loaded with malicious code is key evidence in years-long push to block Huawei, U.S. government officials say
>>15225175 Hong Kong election has Five Eyes seeing red - Five Eyes nations issue joint statement expressing "grave concerns" over outcome of Hong Kong's first legislative elections since Beijing dictated only so-called patriots could govern the city
>>15225175 Foreign Minister Marise Payne Statement - Joint Statement on Legislative Council elections
>>15229800 China accuses Australia of 'violent' interference in Five Eyes response to Hong Kong election - Allies voice grave concerns about 'erosion of democratic elements' after overhaul of electoral system
>>15229805 Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Commonwealth of Australia - "China firmly opposed and strongly condemned the joint statement made by the Australian Foreign Minister, together with the other four Foreign Ministers of the Five Eyes Alliance countries"
>>15229812 Five Eyes with blurred vision unwilling to see Hong Kong back on the right track: Global Times editorial - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>15229820 Trump calls for China tariffs as he preaches to the converted on 'History Tour' - "US tariffs on Chinese goods should be increased "very substantially" as reparation payments for the chaos unleashed by Covid-19, according to Donald Trump"
>>15235841 China-Australia diplomatic ties may worsen due to anti-China rhetoric for 2022 Aussie election: experts - Xu Keyue - globaltimes.cn
>>15241429 Peter Dutton accuses Beijing of playing war games in space - Defence Minister accuses China of pursuing aggressive plan to militarise space to undermine warfighting abilities of western nations including Australia
>>15241432 Bob Carr defends speech to China forum - Former foreign minister defends decision to speak at seminar organised by Chinese-Australian billionaire Chau Chak Wing attended by Xi Jinping
>>15243088 Solomons turns to China for riot help - Solomon Islands government announces that Chinese police officers and equipment will be installed to help train members of the Solomon Islands police force
>>15247159 Free-trade deal to speed exports to India - Australian wine, coal and grain producers targeted by Chinese sanctions are on track to have greater access to Indian markets from next year
>>15271334 Defence Department review finds no national security grounds sufficient to recommend government intervention in lease of Port of Darwin to Chinese company Landbridge
>>15271371 Beijing ducks and weaves on trade tension allegations - Chinese officials accuse Australia of putting trading relationship at risk in aggressive written response to Australian queries at World Trade Organisation forum
>>15301826 Australia's nuclear submarine deal sets off 'very big alarm' in China, says Taiwanese MP Wang Ting-yu, senior representative of Taiwan Foreign Affairs and National Defence committee
>>15325254 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on January 5, 2022
>>15325257 Japan-Australia defense, security treaty will inflame regional tensions - China warns of countermeasures if bottom line touched - Liu Xin and Zhang Changyue - globaltimes.cn
>>15325270 Video: 'Groundless accusations': China's fury over joint statement from Australia and Japan - Sky News Australia
>>15325274 Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Commonwealth of Australia - "The joint statement of the Australia-Japan leaders' meeting, in total disregard of the facts, makes groundless accusations against China"
#15592184 at 2022-02-10 08:23:34 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #20 - INSURGENCY Edition
#20 - Part 8
Australia / China Tensions - Part 1
>>15180162 China's response to Aukus deal was 'irrational', Peter Dutton says - Defence minister accuses Beijing of 'bullying' over criticisms of Australia's pact with the US and UK
>>15180167 Video: Dutton: China's reaction to AUKUS was 'irrational' - Sky News Australia
>>15185171 Video: Australia to acquire new weapons under billion-dollar defence deal with South Korea - Defence Minister Peter Dutton touted the deal as a boost for Australian firepower and security in the Indo-Pacific
>>15201098 Huawei 'helped create' tech for China's state surveillance and 're-educating' of Uighurs
>>15201101 Australia's 5G Huawei ban 'the right move' for security: US tech billionaire Michael Dell, founder and chief executive of Dell Technologies
>>15206664 Royal Australian Navy expects new Evolved Cape Class patrol boats could be delayed by up to nine months, costing extra $44 million, after poor-quality aluminium was imported from China
>>15206972 Chinese Spies Accused of Using Huawei in Secret Australia Telecom Hack - Software update loaded with malicious code is key evidence in years-long push to block Huawei, U.S. government officials say
>>15225175 Hong Kong election has Five Eyes seeing red - Five Eyes nations issue joint statement expressing "grave concerns" over outcome of Hong Kong's first legislative elections since Beijing dictated only so-called patriots could govern the city
>>15225175 Foreign Minister Marise Payne Statement - Joint Statement on Legislative Council elections
>>15229800 China accuses Australia of 'violent' interference in Five Eyes response to Hong Kong election - Allies voice grave concerns about 'erosion of democratic elements' after overhaul of electoral system
>>15229805 Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Commonwealth of Australia - "China firmly opposed and strongly condemned the joint statement made by the Australian Foreign Minister, together with the other four Foreign Ministers of the Five Eyes Alliance countries"
>>15229812 Five Eyes with blurred vision unwilling to see Hong Kong back on the right track: Global Times editorial - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>15229820 Trump calls for China tariffs as he preaches to the converted on 'History Tour' - "US tariffs on Chinese goods should be increased "very substantially" as reparation payments for the chaos unleashed by Covid-19, according to Donald Trump"
>>15235841 China-Australia diplomatic ties may worsen due to anti-China rhetoric for 2022 Aussie election: experts - Xu Keyue - globaltimes.cn
>>15241429 Peter Dutton accuses Beijing of playing war games in space - Defence Minister accuses China of pursuing aggressive plan to militarise space to undermine warfighting abilities of western nations including Australia
>>15241432 Bob Carr defends speech to China forum - Former foreign minister defends decision to speak at seminar organised by Chinese-Australian billionaire Chau Chak Wing attended by Xi Jinping
>>15243088 Solomons turns to China for riot help - Solomon Islands government announces that Chinese police officers and equipment will be installed to help train members of the Solomon Islands police force
>>15247159 Free-trade deal to speed exports to India - Australian wine, coal and grain producers targeted by Chinese sanctions are on track to have greater access to Indian markets from next year
>>15271334 Defence Department review finds no national security grounds sufficient to recommend government intervention in lease of Port of Darwin to Chinese company Landbridge
>>15271371 Beijing ducks and weaves on trade tension allegations - Chinese officials accuse Australia of putting trading relationship at risk in aggressive written response to Australian queries at World Trade Organisation forum
>>15301826 Australia's nuclear submarine deal sets off 'very big alarm' in China, says Taiwanese MP Wang Ting-yu, senior representative of Taiwan Foreign Affairs and National Defence committee
>>15325254 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on January 5, 2022
>>15325257 Japan-Australia defense, security treaty will inflame regional tensions - China warns of countermeasures if bottom line touched - Liu Xin and Zhang Changyue - globaltimes.cn
>>15325270 Video: 'Groundless accusations': China's fury over joint statement from Australia and Japan - Sky News Australia
>>15325274 Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Commonwealth of Australia - "The joint statement of the Australia-Japan leaders' meeting, in total disregard of the facts, makes groundless accusations against China"
#15271337 at 2021-12-29 06:43:35 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #20 - INSURGENCY Edition
>>15271334
2/2
Mr Dutton has this year talked up an expansion of the US military footprint in Australia through troop rotations in the Northern Territory, with the US having expressed its dissatisfaction to Australia over the Landbridge lease arrangement.
Former US president Barack Obama expressed frustration to then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull that America had not been kept in the loop.
However, both the Defence Department and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation conducted assessments at the time, finding the lease did not present a threat to national security. Dennis Richardson, who was then the secretary of Defence, has stood by the decision and still ?argues it was the right call.
He says no compelling arguments were presented suggesting it was a mistake to lease the site to Landbridge.
But the outgoing head of the high profile think-tank the Australian Strategic and Policy Institute, Peter Jennings, disagrees.
Mr Jennings told The Australian there were other options available to the government in relation to the Port of Darwin in the event that it found itself hamstrung by the Defence review.
"I think that the government has given itself new powers by amending the critical infrastructure act at the very end of 2021 which it can use to force more transparency on the owners of critical infrastructure," he said. "And that this is potentially something that could be used to put pressure on the Port of Darwin lease to the Chinese company Landbridge. As is the case with all Chinese companies, there is very little transparency about how Landbridge operates."
Speaking in parliament this month, Mr Dutton said the bill would strengthen the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 by ensuring critical infrastructure was "protected and safeguarded from all hazards".
"This obligation is designed to uplift core security practices of critical infrastructure assets by ensuring that entities take a holistic and proactive approach to identifying, preventing and mitigating risks," Mr Dutton said.
The legislation also establishes a framework for all cyber security incidents affecting critical infrastructure assets to be reported to the Australian Signals Directorate. In addition, Mr Dutton said the bill would provide government "with last-resort powers to respond to a serious cyber incident that is having, has had or may have an impact on a critical infrastructure asset and there is a material risk to Australia's ?national interests".
"These new powers will ensure government is able to act effectively and decisively in responding to cyber attacks that go beyond the capability or capacity of industry to respond," he said.
Before authorising a request to directly intervene, the Home ?Affairs Minister would need to obtain the agreement of both the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister. No indication has been given for when a final decision on the future of the Port of Darwin will be made.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/defence-ticks-chinese-lease-of-darwin-port/news-story/4aae7af9297d5979d9363fdcfdf124fc
#15271334 at 2021-12-29 06:42:27 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #20 - INSURGENCY Edition
Defence ticks Chinese lease of Darwin Port
JOE KELLY - DECEMBER 28, 2021
1/2
A Defence review has found there are no national security grounds sufficient to recommend a government intervention to overturn the controversial 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to Chinese company Landbridge.
The review is understood to have disappointed China hawks who were hoping the review would trigger a reversal of the ?decision and allow the government to unpick the lease arrangement, an outcome that would deepen tensions with Beijing at a critical moment of growing strategic uncertainty and great-power rivalry in the Indo-Pacific.
The Australian has confirmed that the national security committee of cabinet has considered the review it commissioned to ?re-examine the 2015 agreement under which Landbridge won the bid to operate the port in a deal worth $506m.
Given there was no formal recommendation from Defence for a national security intervention, the NSC has taken no action to this point. While the government is still reviewing the matter, the position of the Defence Department makes any decision to overturn the port lease more politically challenging.
Multiple sources informed The Australian that ?Defence had not given the government the justification to liquidate the Chinese holding over the asset in the strategically critical northern reaches of Australia, despite a historic ?deterioration in the bilateral relationship with Beijing and the emergence of new conflicts across the trade, geopolitical and security realms.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton has pushed the review and taken a stronger stand against China than his predecessors, ?recently warning that it would be "inconceivable" for Australia not to join the US if there was a conflict with Beijing over Taiwan.
Speaking in Darwin earlier this year, Scott Morrison said the lease of the Port of Darwin was "undertaken by the former Territory government and it was not a lease that was approved by the federal government - it was not".
The Prime Minister said that as treasurer he made changes to ensure that future transactions would be subject to approval from the federal government given there was, at that time, no basis on which the lease could have been vetoed. He also gave an assurance that his government would only act in relation to the Port of Darwin "if there is advice from the Defence Department or our ?security agencies that change their view about the national ?security implications of any piece of critical infrastructure".
"You could expect me as Prime Minister to take that advice very seriously and act accordingly," Mr Morrison said.
Businessman and former Howard government minister Warwick Smith, who has unparalleled ties into China, warned that any decision to unpick the lease arrangement without the explicit endorsement of Defence would be seen by investors as a "totally and completely gratuitous step".
Mr Smith told The Australian that, over the past 2? years in his capacity as the chair of the international engagement committee of the Business Council of Australia, he had met with the heads of Defence, Home Affairs, ASIO and ASIS, and that none had identified the Port of Darwin as a "high-priority issue".
"It was subject to Defence ?consideration at the time," he said. "They went through it in ?detail. They found a lease ... It was a reasonably good return for what was a basically low level piece of port area.
"My view is that defence have probably come to the right conclusion. National security concerns have changed over the last five years, and I appreciate that. But there's not a lot to be gained by picking apart a port lease like this when there are other ?investments taking place in our country.
"It doesn't gain on the security side. It unpicks a commercial ?arrangement that sends a negative signal. I don't think it's the wisest thing to do right now."
(continued)
#15175292 at 2021-12-11 09:54:47 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #20 - INSURGENCY Edition
#19 - Part 15
Australia / China Tensions - Part 2
>>14942569 Crunch decision on Chinese-owned Port of Darwin looms
>>14942726 Video: Rand Paul had 'another fiery clash' with Anthony Fauci over Wuhan lab funding, according to Sky News host Sharri Markson - Sky News Australia
>>14949327 US Congress to take leaf out of Sharri Markson's book on Wuhan Covid leak
>>14957314 Sharri Markson delivers speech at US congressional briefing and calls for investigation into pandemic origins
>>14957532 Mike Hughes stands aside as managing director of Landbridge, the Chinese company that owns the lease over the Port of Darwin amid national security concerns
>>14957544 GT Voice: No shortage of opportunities in China-Australia trade - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>14965218 'Taiwan not our fight': Former prime minister Paul Keating
>>14965393 Australian firms seek 'smooth' trade with China despite Canberra's provocation - Yu Xi - globaltimes.cn
>>14967641 Taiwan raring to go on trading pact talks with Australia - John Deng, head of Taiwan's Office of Trade Negotiations
>>14988946 'Inconceivable' Australia would not join U.S. to defend Taiwan - Australian defence minister Peter Dutton
>>14994995 'Heavy attack' threat to Australia as Taiwan tensions escalate
>>14997607 Australia urged to back Taiwan in China brawl - Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu has conceded the territory may need military support in the event of a conflict with China
>>15001898 Video: China Rising: Preview to the Sky News Australia documentary - Sky News Australia
>>15012721 Hi-tech race to combat China - Australia's future weapons and cyber defence technologies will be accelerated under the AUKUS and Quad strategic partnerships
>>15012759 China meddling 'staggering', makes case for interference laws: Defence Minister Peter Dutton
>>15025425 PM Scott Morrison demands states drop Covid jab mandates and says unvaccinated Aussies MUST be allowed into pubs and restaurants
>>15032599 'Naughty guy': top Chinese diplomat accuses Australia of 'sabre wielding' with nuclear submarine deal - Acting ambassador to Australia, Wang Xining, says politicians including Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott are not serving Australia's interests
>>15032603 Video: China's warning to Australia over AUKUS pact is mocked by Peter Dutton who shrugs off 'naughty guy' accusation as 'so silly it's funny'
>>15033034 GT Voice: Australia has no strength to counter rising Chinese tech - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>15033098 China's propaganda mouthpiece threatens military 'nightmare' for Australian troops in event of war with Taiwan
>>15033103 Defence Minister Peter Dutton slams China as a bully amid Taiwan war threat
>>15033107 In the face of an irrational Australia, shouldn't China be prepared with an iron fist? - Hu Xijin - globaltimes.cn
>>15047902 AUKUS causing Xi 'heartburn', says White House
>>15047944 Former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull says Huawei 5G would leave Canada's networks vulnerable to China
>>15059512 Shadow Foreign Minister Penny Wong accuses Peter Dutton of 'amping up' threat of war with China
>>15059531 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on November 22, 2021
>>15059549 Lijian Zhao Tweet: Video: The formulation of the Exchange of Naval Nuclear Propulsion Information Agreement by the #US, the #UK and #Australia is extremely irresponsible. Please answer the following five questions.
>>15061019 How Australia is pushed to a belligerent path - Mu Lu - globaltimes.cn
>>15071882 Xiao Qian to be China's ambassador to Australia - Said to be "smart" and "tough", but not yet known as one of Beijing's "wolf warrior" diplomats
>>15076199 Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare has asked for Australian help to regain control of the nation's capital Honiara
#15175286 at 2021-12-11 09:52:44 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #20 - INSURGENCY Edition
#19 - Part 7
Malka Leifer Extradition and Prosecution
>>14825539 Malka Leifer's lawyers consider seeking report on fitness for trial, court told
#19 - Part 8
Australian Government Sexual Assault Allegations
>>15104740 Video: Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces finds 1 in 3 staff in federal parliament experience sexual harassment
#19 - Part 9
Australian and Regional Resignations
>>14957532 Mike Hughes stands aside as managing director of Landbridge, the Chinese company that owns the lease over the Port of Darwin amid national security concerns
>>15112506 Two senior members of the Morrison government, Health Minister Greg Hunt and former attorney-general Christian Porter, will retire at the federal election
>>15119154 Video: Education Minister Alan Tudge stands aside amid abuse allegations, PM tells parliament
>>15150343 Magellan CEO Brett Cairns's abrupt resignation for "personal reasons" spooks investors
#19 - Part 10
George Papadopoulos Tweets, Alexander Downer and SPYGATE Revelations
>>14928326 George Papadopoulos Tweet: Remember these two individuals (Alexander Downer and Stefan Halper). Their names. And why they met a week before both started spying on me in London. #Durham
>>14928326 George Papadopoulos Tweet: Mueller was never there to "investigate." He was there to cover up. They never thought she would lose
>>14957376 George Papadopoulos Tweet: Strzok looked incredibly unhinged in his interview with Maddow. And we aren't even at the Joseph Mifsud, Stefan Halper, Alexander Downer part of the story
>>14957381 Video: Strzok Calls Out Durham's Russia Scandal Investigation For Pushing Pro-Trump Narrative - MSNBC
>>15002062 George Papadopoulos Tweet: Do not be surprised if the intel community burns all their assets used (Downer, Mifsud, Steele, Halper, Turk) in the Russia collusion trap because they understand what Trump and his team knew all along, as did Kissinger, you will need to cooperate with Russia to contain China
>>15042185 George Papadopoulos Tweet: Big names to watch moving forward in Durham probe: Victoria Nuland - US embassy personnel (London/Athens) - Alexander Downer
#19 - Part 11
Australian Defence Force Afghanistan Inquiry and Ben Roberts-Smith Defamation Trial
>>14789400 Judge refuses to move Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case across state borders
>>14806475 Journalist Ross Coulthart's private investigation into Ben Roberts-Smith, prepared for Seven West Media, should remain secret, say lawyers
>>14865509 Ben Roberts-Smith seeks top-secret evidence of 'key witnesses' in defamation trial - Army fighting a request from Roberts-Smith's lawyers to reveal what 12 Special Forces members told a top-secret inquiry into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan
>>14884963 Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial likely to resume in 2022 due to uncertainty about restrictions likely to be in place for witnesses and parties travelling interstate to attend court
>>15025596 Former soldier willing to testify against Ben Roberts-Smith, court hears
>>15033279 Defence Department confirms criminal investigation into conduct of Australian commando platoon in Afghanistan
>>15042210 Australian Special Forces war crimes prosecution could be blown up by legal minefield
>>15061842 Judge rules Seven West Media's secret Ben Roberts-Smith report will not be available at defamation trial
>>15126709 Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial set to resume in February
#15175256 at 2021-12-11 09:32:34 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #19 - THE ONLY WAY IS THE MILITARY Edition
#19 - Part 15
Australia / China Tensions - Part 2
>>14942569 Crunch decision on Chinese-owned Port of Darwin looms
>>14942726 Video: Rand Paul had 'another fiery clash' with Anthony Fauci over Wuhan lab funding, according to Sky News host Sharri Markson - Sky News Australia
>>14949327 US Congress to take leaf out of Sharri Markson's book on Wuhan Covid leak
>>14957314 Sharri Markson delivers speech at US congressional briefing and calls for investigation into pandemic origins
>>14957532 Mike Hughes stands aside as managing director of Landbridge, the Chinese company that owns the lease over the Port of Darwin amid national security concerns
>>14957544 GT Voice: No shortage of opportunities in China-Australia trade - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>14965218 'Taiwan not our fight': Former prime minister Paul Keating
>>14965393 Australian firms seek 'smooth' trade with China despite Canberra's provocation - Yu Xi - globaltimes.cn
>>14967641 Taiwan raring to go on trading pact talks with Australia - John Deng, head of Taiwan's Office of Trade Negotiations
>>14988946 'Inconceivable' Australia would not join U.S. to defend Taiwan - Australian defence minister Peter Dutton
>>14994995 'Heavy attack' threat to Australia as Taiwan tensions escalate
>>14997607 Australia urged to back Taiwan in China brawl - Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu has conceded the territory may need military support in the event of a conflict with China
>>15001898 Video: China Rising: Preview to the Sky News Australia documentary - Sky News Australia
>>15012721 Hi-tech race to combat China - Australia's future weapons and cyber defence technologies will be accelerated under the AUKUS and Quad strategic partnerships
>>15012759 China meddling 'staggering', makes case for interference laws: Defence Minister Peter Dutton
>>15025425 PM Scott Morrison demands states drop Covid jab mandates and says unvaccinated Aussies MUST be allowed into pubs and restaurants
>>15032599 'Naughty guy': top Chinese diplomat accuses Australia of 'sabre wielding' with nuclear submarine deal - Acting ambassador to Australia, Wang Xining, says politicians including Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott are not serving Australia's interests
>>15032603 Video: China's warning to Australia over AUKUS pact is mocked by Peter Dutton who shrugs off 'naughty guy' accusation as 'so silly it's funny'
>>15033034 GT Voice: Australia has no strength to counter rising Chinese tech - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>15033098 China's propaganda mouthpiece threatens military 'nightmare' for Australian troops in event of war with Taiwan
>>15033103 Defence Minister Peter Dutton slams China as a bully amid Taiwan war threat
>>15033107 In the face of an irrational Australia, shouldn't China be prepared with an iron fist? - Hu Xijin - globaltimes.cn
>>15047902 AUKUS causing Xi 'heartburn', says White House
>>15047944 Former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull says Huawei 5G would leave Canada's networks vulnerable to China
>>15059512 Shadow Foreign Minister Penny Wong accuses Peter Dutton of 'amping up' threat of war with China
>>15059531 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on November 22, 2021
>>15059549 Lijian Zhao Tweet: Video: The formulation of the Exchange of Naval Nuclear Propulsion Information Agreement by the #US, the #UK and #Australia is extremely irresponsible. Please answer the following five questions.
>>15061019 How Australia is pushed to a belligerent path - Mu Lu - globaltimes.cn
>>15071882 Xiao Qian to be China's ambassador to Australia - Said to be "smart" and "tough", but not yet known as one of Beijing's "wolf warrior" diplomats
>>15076199 Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare has asked for Australian help to regain control of the nation's capital Honiara
#15175253 at 2021-12-11 09:30:19 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #19 - THE ONLY WAY IS THE MILITARY Edition
#19 - Part 7
Malka Leifer Extradition and Prosecution
>>14825539 Malka Leifer's lawyers consider seeking report on fitness for trial, court told
#19 - Part 8
Australian Government Sexual Assault Allegations
>>15104740 Video: Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces finds 1 in 3 staff in federal parliament experience sexual harassment
#19 - Part 9
Australian and Regional Resignations
>>14957532 Mike Hughes stands aside as managing director of Landbridge, the Chinese company that owns the lease over the Port of Darwin amid national security concerns
>>15112506 Two senior members of the Morrison government, Health Minister Greg Hunt and former attorney-general Christian Porter, will retire at the federal election
>>15119154 Video: Education Minister Alan Tudge stands aside amid abuse allegations, PM tells parliament
>>15150343 Magellan CEO Brett Cairns's abrupt resignation for "personal reasons" spooks investors
#19 - Part 10
George Papadopoulos Tweets, Alexander Downer and SPYGATE Revelations
>>14928326 George Papadopoulos Tweet: Remember these two individuals (Alexander Downer and Stefan Halper). Their names. And why they met a week before both started spying on me in London. #Durham
>>14928326 George Papadopoulos Tweet: Mueller was never there to "investigate." He was there to cover up. They never thought she would lose
>>14957376 George Papadopoulos Tweet: Strzok looked incredibly unhinged in his interview with Maddow. And we aren't even at the Joseph Mifsud, Stefan Halper, Alexander Downer part of the story
>>14957381 Video: Strzok Calls Out Durham's Russia Scandal Investigation For Pushing Pro-Trump Narrative - MSNBC
>>15002062 George Papadopoulos Tweet: Do not be surprised if the intel community burns all their assets used (Downer, Mifsud, Steele, Halper, Turk) in the Russia collusion trap because they understand what Trump and his team knew all along, as did Kissinger, you will need to cooperate with Russia to contain China
>>15042185 George Papadopoulos Tweet: Big names to watch moving forward in Durham probe: Victoria Nuland - US embassy personnel (London/Athens) - Alexander Downer
#19 - Part 11
Australian Defence Force Afghanistan Inquiry and Ben Roberts-Smith Defamation Trial
>>14789400 Judge refuses to move Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case across state borders
>>14806475 Journalist Ross Coulthart's private investigation into Ben Roberts-Smith, prepared for Seven West Media, should remain secret, say lawyers
>>14865509 Ben Roberts-Smith seeks top-secret evidence of 'key witnesses' in defamation trial - Army fighting a request from Roberts-Smith's lawyers to reveal what 12 Special Forces members told a top-secret inquiry into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan
>>14884963 Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial likely to resume in 2022 due to uncertainty about restrictions likely to be in place for witnesses and parties travelling interstate to attend court
>>15025596 Former soldier willing to testify against Ben Roberts-Smith, court hears
>>15033279 Defence Department confirms criminal investigation into conduct of Australian commando platoon in Afghanistan
>>15042210 Australian Special Forces war crimes prosecution could be blown up by legal minefield
>>15061842 Judge rules Seven West Media's secret Ben Roberts-Smith report will not be available at defamation trial
>>15126709 Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial set to resume in February
#15032600 at 2021-11-19 08:08:22 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #19 - THE ONLY WAY IS THE MILITARY Edition
>>15032599
2/2
'Scaring away' Chinese investors
Wang has been serving as the charg? d'affaires - the top ranked diplomat - at the Chinese embassy since the beginning of November, after the former ambassador, Cheng Jingye, returned to Beijing at the end of a five-year posting.
Wang, who was already in Canberra as the deputy head of mission at the embassy, said he was saddened and disappointed at how the relationship had deteriorated over the past five years.
Sitting down for an interview at the ambassador's residence, Wang blamed "negative policies and actions from Australia against China" that had been implemented in a "ruthless and arbitrary way".
He cited the banning of Chinese company Huawei from the 5G network in 2018, the cancellation of the Victorian Belt and Road Agreement earlier this year, and increased barriers to foreign investment that had "scared away" Chinese investors.
The Morrison government will soon consider the future of a Chinese company's 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin, in a move that could further strain the relationship.
Wang said under the existing contract, signed between Landbridge and the Northern Territory government in 2015, the company was planning to expand the capacity of the port.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the [Australian] intelligence and the security apparatus would stretch its hand, again, to a normal business operation," he said.
He said the Chinese government would respond to any decision once announced, just as it had responded to "all the negative moves" to date.
"But it seems to me that all these responses have fallen on deaf ears, so nobody in the government seems to be listening carefully about what my government have expressed, and even in certain areas it seems the tensions are still going on."
Australia has accused China of a campaign of "economic coercion" after Beijing imposed tariffs and other trade actions on a range of Australian export sectors over the past 18 months, including coal, barley, wine and seafood.
Wang continued to defend those measures on technical grounds, and said there was "inadequate diplomacy that's been executed by your government in terms of solving these differences".
He said Chinese and Australian officials continued to speak to one another, but ministerial talks would require a better "political atmosphere" and the prospect of "concrete results".
In a more upbeat outlook on the way forward, Wang said China was "still very keen to engage in a very fruitful and constructive dialogue and troubleshooting process to get all these problems solved in the end".
Abbott's Taiwan trip 'very unfortunate'
However, one of the most sensitive issues in the relationship is Taiwan, with Australia raising concerns about an increase in Chinese military pressure against the democratically ruled island of 24 million people, amid Beijing's long-term goal of unification.
Dutton told the Australian newspaper last week: "It would be inconceivable that we wouldn't support the US in an action if the US chose to take that action."
Responding to Dutton, Wang said Australian politicians should "not to do anything that would lead to an even more gloomy state of our relationship".
Wang said the former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott's visit to Taiwan last month was "very unfortunate". Abbott - who said he travelled in a private capacity - warned that Beijing might lash out against Taiwan soon, and the US and Australia could not stand idly by.
Wang said: "Actually, it is very agonising to see that such a high-level politician would engage in something that doesn't serve the interests of Australia, because I think it serves the interests of Australia and China to stick to one-China policy and make our relationship as trouble-free as possible."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/19/naughty-guy-top-chinese-diplomat-accuses-australia-of-sabre-wielding-with-nuclear-submarine-deal
#14957532 at 2021-11-09 07:51:40 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #19 - THE ONLY WAY IS THE MILITARY Edition
>>14942569
Resignations in the news
Landbridge boss stands aside amid national security cloud over Darwin Port
BEN PACKHAM - NOVEMBER 8, 2021
The long-serving Australian head of the Chinese company that owns the lease over the Port of Darwin has stepped down from the role amid speculation it may be forced to relinquish the strategic facility following a major ?security review.
Landbridge managing director Mike Hughes announced his resignation late last week after eight years in the role.
He said he would stay on as a part-time adviser and would "look forward to seeing what else the future holds".
The move comes as the federal government considers whether the ongoing ownership of the port by a Chinese company poses unacceptable national security risks.
A Department of Defence review on the matter has been handed to Defence Minister Peter Dutton but is yet to be considered by the national security committee of cabinet.
Landbridge has promoted Matt Wallach, the head of its subsidiary company Westside, as its new managing director.
There is growing consensus in the national security community that the government will strip Landbridge of the lease over the nation's most strategic northern deepwater port, or impose restrictions over its management of the facility.
The US has expressed concern over the Chinese company's control over the port, which US marines must access for their annual rotational deployments to the Northern Territory.
Japan's top diplomat to Australia, Yamagami Shingo, has also questioned the wisdom of the lease, saying his country would not allow any of its key ports to be controlled by China.
The head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's northern Australia program, John Coyne, said the arrangement was constraining future development of the port and visits by friendly warships.
"There is a real reluctance (by foreign partners) to use it because of the symbolism, and that can impact relationships," he said.
"Secondly, future investment in our most important deep-water port is subject to decisions by a Chinese company, and that's unacceptable."
Defence gave the green light for the 99-year lease of the port to Landbridge by the Northern Territory government in 2015, at a cost of $506m.
Many within government now believe the arrangement is no longer acceptable given heightened security concerns over China.
Scott Morrison has previously said he would closely examine the Defence review of the arrangement, initiated by Mr Dutton.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/Landbridge-boss-stands-aside-amid-national-security-cloud-over-darwin-port/news-story/462cdb56df5a383a5f2531af96b35498
#14942575 at 2021-11-07 06:39:05 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #19 - THE ONLY WAY IS THE MILITARY Edition
>>14942569
2/2
The Head of the Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre at think tank ASPI, John Coyne, said he expected a decision in early 2022 and the "government will have little choice but to acknowledge that there needs to be a change in how the port is managed in the lease arrangements".
"The current lease arrangements can't stand as they are in terms of controlling the day-to-day operations and in terms of its future investment and development," he said.
"The current arrangements are impacting on our bilateral relationship with Japan and the US and more broadly will in time impact on Quad arrangements and opportunities," adding a warning that "any announcement other than leaving it as exactly as is will be followed by a really sharp statement from Beijing".
Australian Defence Association director Neil James said the port "should not have been sold in the first place and if we have to buy it back to solve the problem, then we should".
"You don't want to cause the problem you are seeking to avoid by taking it back at a time of increased strategic tensions, you would escalate the problem rather than solve it." To that end, Mr James suggested the buy-back should occur sooner, rather than later.
A costing undertaken by the Parliamentary Budget Office two years ago estimated the federal government would have to pay $30 million in compensation to Landbridge if it was required the company to give up the port. It said the government would also have to pay $690 million to purchase the remaining term of the lease but cautioned the costings were "highly uncertain" considering the lack of public information about the deal's terms.
The looming decision comes after the nation's counter-espionage agency last week warned Australia's adversaries may try to infect its telecommunications and energy grids with malicious code to launch damaging cyber attacks years down the track.
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general Mike Burgess last month said he remained "concerned about the potential for Australia's adversaries to conduct sabotage against us".
"It is entirely plausible that our adversaries would seek to pre-position malicious code on our critical infrastructure," he said. "Such cyber enabled activities could be used to damage critical infrastructure in the future, especially at times of increased tension."
Labor senator Kimberley Kitching said "Liberals in Darwin and Canberra sold our most strategically significant port to a Chinese company legally obliged to take direction from the CCP".
"Labor has said that the Port of Darwin should never have been sold. How do we tell South Pacific neighbours to reject BRI debt traps on infrastructure while this embarrassing Liberal mistake endures," she said.
"National security issues are a part of the problem, the symbolism of it is appalling and must be addressed."
Defence Minister Peter Dutton's office declined to comment when contacted, while Landbridge did not respond to a request for comment.
https://www.smh.com.au/ politics/federal/ crunch-decision-on-chinese-owned-port-of-darwin-looms -20211105 -p596fv .html
#14942569 at 2021-11-07 06:34:17 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #19 - THE ONLY WAY IS THE MILITARY Edition
Crunch decision on Chinese-owned Port of Darwin looms
James Massola and Anthony Galloway - November 7, 2021
1/2
A decision on whether to force a Chinese company to hand back its ownership of the Port of Darwin could be handed down in a matter of weeks, as the federal government weighs whether to make a move that will further ignite tensions with Beijing.
The Department of Defence has handed its advice on security risks at the port to the government after the national security committee of cabinet ordered a review this year.
A range of options for the future of the port, which was sold to Chinese government-owned Landbridge group in 2015 for $506 million, have been canvassed in recent months.
The most drastic would involve the government forcing Landbridge, owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, to divest the strategically important asset on national security grounds under critical infrastructure laws passed in 2018.
Other options include requiring the government to conduct regular "security views" of the port to ensure any risks are being dealt with.
Laws passed in 2018 would allow the Home Affairs Minister to issue a direction to an operator of critical infrastructure such as a port to mitigate significant national security risks.
The government could also use proposed new critical infrastructure laws yet to pass Federal Parliament to force staff at the port to undergo background checks and create a mandatory reporting framework.
It is unclear which if any of these options have made their way into Defence's final advice to the government.
The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age spoke to senior members of the government and defence establishment to gauge the timing of the decision. Several suggested the government was wrestling with how to balance national security requirements in an increasingly tense strategic environment in the region with how to avoid causing further damage to the trade relationship between China and Australia.
While Defence's advice has been handed to government, it's understood the issue has not yet been discussed by the National Security Committee of cabinet, or by the full cabinet.
A decision to force the sale of the port would significantly ratchet up tensions with China, which has hit Australia with more than $20 billion in tariffs after federal government decisions including leading calls for an independent global coronavirus inquiry.
(continued)
#14757758 at 2021-10-10 04:09:02 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #18 - Talisman Sabre: MAGIC SWORD Edition
Marking 10 years in Darwin, top US diplomat signals bigger US marine deployments in Top End
Melissa Mackay - 10 October 2021
1/2
Massive Howitzer guns blasted high-velocity shells, armoured personnel carriers and tanks trundled across blazing hot scrub-land and rockets and war planes roared overhead.
In the tropical Top End dry season, more than 2,000 military personnel from the United States and Australia fought side-by-side in a live-fire war-fighting exercise on a cattle station-turned-military training ground 600 kilometres south-west of Darwin.
This year's Exercise Koolendong was the largest combined training exercise since then-US President Barack Obama announced the formation of the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin during a visit to the NT in 2011.
The wargames wrapped up only days before the bombshell announcement of the historic AUKUS security pact, signed between the US, Australia and the United Kingdom after years of intensifying diplomatic tensions with China.
Last year's Koolendong training exercise was smaller, affected by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The US's force commander in Darwin, Colonel David Banning, said this year's record-setting effort - executed as the pandemic continued and changed - was a display of the enhanced "interoperability" between the two forces that the rotation was set up to achieve.
"The ability of the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin and the ADF to conduct this exercise during a pandemic is testament to the strength of our partnership," he said.
"There's absolutely no doubt in my mind, that we would be able to work together [if deployed to combat]."
The AUKUS announcement has fuelled more speculation about possible expansion of the marines' presence in the Top End, which Defence Minister Peter Dutton has already said he would like to see.
In an interview with the ABC, the US's Charges d'Affaires in Australia, Michael Goldman, said talks on the subject were ongoing.
"I can see [the rotation] only getting bigger, more integrated, more ambitious and better in the future," he said.
Asked if a permanent presence of marines in the Top End was a possibility, Mr Goldman said he didn't want to get ahead of the discussions still underway.
But, he said, "certainly anything's possible, including that."
From hundreds to thousands over a decade
There were only 200 marines in the first rotational force in 2012, a year after President Obama's visit to the NT marked a new chapter in US-Australian military co-operation.
At its peak in 2019, 2,500 troops rotated through Darwin on six-month deployments, along with a suite of aircraft, weapons, and vehicles.
As well as war-fighting exercises, the rotation includes a mock natural disaster response scenario - 'Exercise Crocodile Response' was held this year in June, with the NT's Tiwi islands standing in for an Indo-Pacific location.
Michael Shoebridge, the director of defence, strategy and national security at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said northern Australia was becoming another staging point for US personnel, logistics and resources in the Asia Pacific.
He said the military build-up in Australia's north was not without risk.
"The United States military has got large concentrations of forces in a small number of places," he said.
"The problem with those sorts of places is that they're also places you would target in a conflict, particularly if you're a large power like China which has the capability to do that."
Mr Shoebridge said he considered any increased risk is mitigated by the deterrent effect the military power brings the region.
Experts including Mr Shoebridge say the controversial lease of the Darwin port to Chinese company Landbridge presents an obvious "constraint" on expansion of the US presence in the Top End.
Mr Goldman told the ABC he understood the federal government "is taking a very hard look at [the lease]."
"Ultimately it's a sovereign decision for Australia to make, but we're certainly not deterred in our cooperation with Australia," he said.
A spokesperson for the Defence Department said it was finalising work on the review of the port lease ordered by the federal government earlier this year.
(continued)
#14019863 at 2021-06-30 06:23:04 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #16 - INFILTRATION NOT INVASION Edition
#16 - Part 13
Australia / China Tensions - Part 1
>>13741432 United States Consulate General in Melbourne Tweet: Thanks to the Uyghur Association of Victoria for hosting us over the weekend. We're proud to stand by our Uyghur friends and speak out for those arbitrarily detained in Xinxiang Province. - CG Mike Kleine
>>13748272 Latest research by 'bat woman' shows novel coronavirus closer to pangolins, 'unlikely from Wuhan lab' - Leng Shumei - globaltimes.cn
>>13748489 Mike Pompeo Tweet: The CCP was actively engaged in viral research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Every piece of evidence points to a leak from this laboratory. The CCP has done everything to cover up and deflect blame, even blaming the U.S. Prove it. They must be held accountable.
>>13748562 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on May 24, 2021
>>13748782 'A matter of time': New Zealand's foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta warns China 'storm' could be coming
>>13748789 Video: Jacinda Ardern says differences with China becoming 'harder to reconcile' - Guardian News
>>13756731 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on May 25, 2021
>>13756806 Backstage manipulators: Western press' guide to creating anti-China rumors on hot issues, or out of nothing - Bai Yunyi - globaltimes.cn
>>13757012 Carping about Port of Darwin sends anti-investment message: Landbridge CEO Mike Hughes
>>13764382 Sarah Zheng Tweet: police check the credentials of the Australian ambassador to China Graham Fletcher before he seeks to enter the Beijing court where Chinese Australian writer Yang Hengjun will be tried in closed court today
>>13764382 Sarah Zheng Tweet: Video: Fletcher denied access to the trial, told it's because of Covid-19 but the foreign ministry earlier told them it's because the case involves national security. He says this is "deeply regrettable and concerning and unsatisfactory."
>>13764410 Lijian Zhao Tweet: Video: The smear campaign against #Xinjiang is based on nothing but lies. (Australian Strategic Policy Institute)
>>13764416 Video: The Chinese Forced Labor Lie Collapses - Redacted Tonight / Lee Camp
>>13764427 Alleged Chinese agent of foreign interference Huifeng 'Haha' Liu wins reprieve in court fight to stay in Australia
>>13773025 Eight reasons I think Covid escaped from the lab - Peter Jennings, Australian Strategic Policy Institute
>>13773035 Has NZ chosen China trade over mateship with us? - Mark Watson, Bondi Partners
>>13773053 Closed-door trial of Yang Jun's espionage case 'a common practice,' Canberra urged not to interfere: FM - Xu Keyue - globaltimes.cn
>>13773056 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on May 27, 2021
>>13773154 American support for Australia is a mirage - Bruce Haigh - globaltimes.cn
>>13773196 Colonel Tan Kefei, spokesman for China's Ministry of National Defence says Australia's Taiwan comments 'provocative'
>>13773196 China slams Australia for its provocative actions on Taiwan-related issues - Wang Xinjuan - eng.chinamil.com.cn
>>13773348 Former Australian PM Kevin Rudd Speaks at China Trade Forum - Daniel Y. Teng - theepochtimes.com
>>13773357 RCEP Regional Development Media Think Tank Forum was held in Haikou - China Daily - cn.chinadaily.com.cn
>>13779799 Jacinda Ardern and Scott Morrison to build bridges over China
>>13780035 Don't take on China alone, says ex-Australia PM Kevin Rudd
>>13780350 Foreign Minister Marise Payne labels Dr Yang Hengjun's trial a case of arbitrary detention
>>13790460 NZ to back Australia in WTO China tariff dispute
>>13793285 Taiwan wants FTA with Australia amid rising tensions with Beijing: Edward Tao, Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brisbane
>>13793334 Australian Yang Hengjun proclaims his innocence after Chinese espionage trial
>>13797457 GT Voice: NZ doesn't need a lesson in China trade from Australia - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
#13757013 at 2021-05-26 09:09:56 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #16 - INFILTRATION NOT INVASION Edition
>>13757012
2/2
Then there are concerns about Chinese laws that require companies to follow directions in China's national interest.
Such laws, even if implemented, would have no effect on Landbridge's physical port assets, especially when they are subject to licence conditions and managed day to day by an Australian workforce. What exactly would China be trying to persuade Landbridge to encourage its Australian workforce to do?
The irony here is that the undermining of Landbridge is in no one's interest. Defence officials pointed out to me in 2015 that the best thing for Australia's defence would be for Darwin to grow and for Darwin Harbour's infrastructure to develop. For the Territory government, the sniping is a barrier to the growth of the port and its economy.
While the lease was signed by the Country Liberal Party (CLP) both sides of Territory politics have supported Landbridge.
The NT government has regularly confirmed that Landbridge has met its commitments under the lease. Landbridge has extensively engaged with, and invested in, the local community; we sponsor the Clontarf and Stars Foundations which make a real difference to indigenous youth development in the Territory. We also have sponsored the Darwin International Film Festival and many other local community events.
The government has the right to review its defence position at any time. At no point has any official government entity formally expressed any concern about Landbridge operating Darwin Port to Landbridge. In any normal situation it would be unacceptable for the government to sit silently while parties take swipes at a foreign investor that has met all legal and regulatory requirements and with which they have raised no concerns.
Australia relies on foreign investment but seems to have lost sight of the fact that foreign investors have a choice. Having observed the last five years of treatment meted out to Landbridge, other prospective investors might consider putting their money elsewhere.
Mike Hughes has been vice-president of China-owned Landbridge in Australia since 2014.
https://www.afr.com/companies/infrastructure/carping-about-port-of-darwin-sends-anti-investment-message-20210524-p57uqy
#13757012 at 2021-05-26 09:09:29 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #16 - INFILTRATION NOT INVASION Edition
Carping about Port of Darwin sends anti-investment message
Landbridge's CEO says he's never seen an international company that's ticked all the regulatory boxes treated so badly. It sends the message Australia doesn't want foreign investment.
Mike Hughes - May 26, 2021
1/2
Having spent most of my career working for multinationals investing in different parts of the world, most of it for an American company in south-east Asia, I have not seen a company as badly treated as Landbridge Group in Australia. For a country so heavily dependent on foreign investment, that is a worrying sign.
In 2015, Landbridge submitted to a year-long process to bid for the lease of Darwin Port. The Northern Territory government had made it clear from the outset that no conditional bids would be accepted; bidders would need to have any and all required sign-offs from Canberra in place. Landbridge engaged with the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) over many months, met with the Department of Defence, and provided full information on our company to all who asked.
In October 2015 we were announced as the winning bidder. Shortly afterward at a conference in Darwin the owner of Landbridge was welcomed in person by senior government ministers, including the current treasurer, as a significant new foreign investor.
Unfortunately, in the months and years since, sideline critics have continued to carp about the lease. That is despite a Senate inquiry in which senior officials from Defence and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) both clearly said they had no issue with Landbridge.
In almost six years I have yet to hear a single concern about Landbridge operating the Port that has merit. Landbridge manages commercial wharves. To suggest that we could control the entry of foreign naval vessels into Australian waters is risible. So is the suggestion that we would block Australian or US naval vessels entering Darwin.
The lease is simply a contractual right that comes with clear obligations to allow fair and equal access to the Port's facilities. If we do not, we breach the contract and lose the lease. And in any kind of wartime situation the Australian government can simply step in and assume control of the port.
Much is made of the fact that Darwin has a significant naval and defence presence. But the Australian Naval presence is at the Coonawarra base, which is in Darwin Harbour but has nothing to do with Landbridge and Darwin Port operations.
The Department of Defence conducted a full review of Landbridge's lease over the Port in 2015. It is a 99-year lease, so it would be safe to assume the Department anticipated there could be periodic tensions in the bilateral relationship with China and factored that in.
(continued)
#13741344 at 2021-05-24 09:31:46 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #16 - INFILTRATION NOT INVASION Edition
#15 - Part 16
Australia / China Tensions - Part 4
>>13539557 China's top diplomat in Canberra, ambassador Cheng Jingye gives rare public warning to Australia
>>13539570 Aussie interests not in minds of saber-rattling politicians - Zhang Yi - globaltimes.cn
>>13539590 Video: Australian politicians hyping up war threats are real troublemakers: Chinese FM spokesperson - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>13539591 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on April 28, 2021
>>13539612 Australian mother Cheng Le marks nine months in Chinese prison as curious online posts emerge
>>13555533 China warns Australia to avoid getting 'burned' by colluding with 'terrorists'
>>13555533 PDF: Australian politicians back East Turkistan terrorism apologists - Australian Citizens Party
>>13555538 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on April 30, 2021
>>13555541 OPINION: Where are the grown-ups? All this loose talk about China and war is dangerous - Bob Carr - theage.com.au
>>13562235 Tearing up BRI deal will hit Australia's influence in South Pacific - Qin Sheng - globaltimes.cn
>>13569579 Jacinda Ardern says differences between NZ and China 'becoming harder to reconcile'
>>13569618 Dutton vows to call out Beijing and declares everyday Australians are with the government
>>13569625 'Strategic own goal': Defence reviews Port of Darwin's Chinese ownership
>>13577336 Conflict with China a 'high likelihood', says former Australian special forces commander Major-General Adam Findlay
>>13577349 Major-General Adam Findlay tells dark story about the "grey zone" threat from China
>>13577356 Video: China already engaged in 'grey zone' warfare with Australia: Major-General Adam Findlay - Sky News Australia
>>13577360 Foreign Minister Marise Payne blasts Beijing tactic of 'debt trap diplomacy'
>>13577468 Port of Darwin: Chinese owner Landbridge Group says it will "actively respond to the call of the state", as it works toward "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation"
>>13577477 Video: Landbridge Group Worldwide Corporate Video (English) - Landbridge Group
>>13577485 Opinion: We need Darwin Port back in our hands - Peter Jennings, Australian Strategic Policy Institute
>>13577505 Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner backflips on praise for Darwin Port lease and Belt and Road Initiative - Sky News Australia
>>13578091 Troops are Leaving. Will Justice Arrive Soon? - Xin Ping - globaltimes.cn
>>13578193 U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan Tweet: The #CCP is engaged in an economic war against Australia, including imposing massive tariffs on Australian wine.
>>13595127 China suspends economic accord with Australia - China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue
>>13595132 Proclamation of the National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China on the Indefinite Suspension of All Activities under China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue
>>13595138 China's suspension of economic dialogue mechanism with Australia 'a necessary step' to defend national interests: analysts - Li Xuanmin - globaltimes.cn
>>13598599 New Zealand torn between Western allies, domestic interests in China stance: experts - Chen Qingqing -
>>13603511 Beijing calls the Morrison government 'insane' after Belt and Road retaliation
>>13603526, >>13603540 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on May 6, 2021
>>13608307 Chinese military scientists discussed weaponising SARS coronaviruses five years before the COVID-19 pandemic
#13741341 at 2021-05-24 09:31:12 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #16 - INFILTRATION NOT INVASION Edition
#15 - Part 15
Australia / China Tensions - Part 3
>>13498959 New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern savaged as British Parliament declares treatment of Uighurs 'genocide', Australia praised for its actions
>>13499300 Victoria's China deal was done through Premier Daniel Andrews' office, not the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources
>>13499309 'Insidious': Former ASIO boss Duncan Lewis warns on Chinese interference in Australia (2019)
>>13499394 Australia tearing up formal Belt and Road deal has little exemplary effect - Shen Yujia - globaltimes.cn
>>13499403 GT Voice: Australia in over its head with provocative action - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>13499411 Australia's continued escalation of tensions prompts Chinese companies' diversification drive - GT staff reporters - globaltimes.cn
>>13500664 Australian defense minister's comments against China confuse right and wrong: Chinese FM - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>13500664 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on April 23, 2021
>>13500714 Push to cut more Chinese accords - Foreign Minister Marise Payne urged to tear up China's Confucius Institute agreements and NT government's 99-year Port of Darwin lease
>>13500719 Time to face down the wolf warriors: Beijing's threats require a united, measured and calm response - Peter Jennings - theaustralian.com.au
>>13515337 Defence Minister Peter Dutton: war with China over Taiwan "should not be discounted" - Potential China war sees audit of deals, including Port of Darwin
>>13515342 Academic Jane Golley backtracks on "anonymous article" casting doubt over human rights abuses in Xinjiang
>>13515355 Australian fruits face delays at Chinese ports due to strict anti-virus inspections: sources - Yin Yeping - globaltimes.cn
>>13517899 'Get ready to fight for our liberty,' Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo
>>13517916 The drums of war are growing louder - Michael Pezzullo - theaustralian.com.au
>>13522368 Video: China says Australia must stick to 'One China' policy after Peter Dutton warns of conflict over Taiwan independence
>>13522384 Australia inflates presence on Taiwan question to show loyalty to US - Li Qingqing - globaltimes.cn
>>13522393 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on April 26, 2021
>>13522425 Academic's mea culpa on China Uighur abuse comments - Jane Golley - theaustralian.com.au
>>13522894 People's Liberation Army Major General Jin Yinan mocks Australia as 'white supremacist'
>>13529854 Video: 'Drums of war' warnings spread across the world to British news - Sky News Australia
>>13529868 'Drums of war beating' warns Australia as China tension grows - Page 1, The Times Newspaper, UK - April 28 2021
>>13529891 Northern Territory bases' $747m boost after 'drums of war' warning
>>13529937 China says Australia is 'sick', needs to 'take medicine' after Morrison government's most senior diplomat said Beijing wanted to compromise key Australian interests
>>13529942 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on April 27, 2021
>>13529959 GT Voice: Spiraling of Canberra moves against Chinese interests to backfire - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>13530313 Victoria's axed Belt deal 'not end of the road', says Victoria's Acting Premier James Merlino
>>13530328 Deal on Darwin Port under the shadows of Australian politicians - Ai Jun - globaltimes.cn
>>13530344 Let war games begin: ADF training bases upgraded in major strategic step-up aimed at expanding "war gaming" with the US and defending the Indo-Pacific
>>13539534 Prime Minister says no security concerns raised with him about Darwin Port lease to Chinese company Landbridge
#13741284 at 2021-05-24 09:11:13 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
#15 - Part 16
Australia / China Tensions - Part 4
>>13539557 China's top diplomat in Canberra, ambassador Cheng Jingye gives rare public warning to Australia
>>13539570 Aussie interests not in minds of saber-rattling politicians - Zhang Yi - globaltimes.cn
>>13539590 Video: Australian politicians hyping up war threats are real troublemakers: Chinese FM spokesperson - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>13539591 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on April 28, 2021
>>13539612 Australian mother Cheng Le marks nine months in Chinese prison as curious online posts emerge
>>13555533 China warns Australia to avoid getting 'burned' by colluding with 'terrorists'
>>13555533 PDF: Australian politicians back East Turkistan terrorism apologists - Australian Citizens Party
>>13555538 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on April 30, 2021
>>13555541 OPINION: Where are the grown-ups? All this loose talk about China and war is dangerous - Bob Carr - theage.com.au
>>13562235 Tearing up BRI deal will hit Australia's influence in South Pacific - Qin Sheng - globaltimes.cn
>>13569579 Jacinda Ardern says differences between NZ and China 'becoming harder to reconcile'
>>13569618 Dutton vows to call out Beijing and declares everyday Australians are with the government
>>13569625 'Strategic own goal': Defence reviews Port of Darwin's Chinese ownership
>>13577336 Conflict with China a 'high likelihood', says former Australian special forces commander Major-General Adam Findlay
>>13577349 Major-General Adam Findlay tells dark story about the "grey zone" threat from China
>>13577356 Video: China already engaged in 'grey zone' warfare with Australia: Major-General Adam Findlay - Sky News Australia
>>13577360 Foreign Minister Marise Payne blasts Beijing tactic of 'debt trap diplomacy'
>>13577468 Port of Darwin: Chinese owner Landbridge Group says it will "actively respond to the call of the state", as it works toward "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation"
>>13577477 Video: Landbridge Group Worldwide Corporate Video (English) - Landbridge Group
>>13577485 Opinion: We need Darwin Port back in our hands - Peter Jennings, Australian Strategic Policy Institute
>>13577505 Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner backflips on praise for Darwin Port lease and Belt and Road Initiative - Sky News Australia
>>13578091 Troops are Leaving. Will Justice Arrive Soon? - Xin Ping - globaltimes.cn
>>13578193 U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan Tweet: The #CCP is engaged in an economic war against Australia, including imposing massive tariffs on Australian wine.
>>13595127 China suspends economic accord with Australia - China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue
>>13595132 Proclamation of the National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China on the Indefinite Suspension of All Activities under China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue
>>13595138 China's suspension of economic dialogue mechanism with Australia 'a necessary step' to defend national interests: analysts - Li Xuanmin - globaltimes.cn
>>13598599 New Zealand torn between Western allies, domestic interests in China stance: experts - Chen Qingqing -
>>13603511 Beijing calls the Morrison government 'insane' after Belt and Road retaliation
>>13603526, >>13603540 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on May 6, 2021
>>13608307 Chinese military scientists discussed weaponising SARS coronaviruses five years before the COVID-19 pandemic
#13741281 at 2021-05-24 09:10:08 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
#15 - Part 15
Australia / China Tensions - Part 3
>>13498959 New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern savaged as British Parliament declares treatment of Uighurs 'genocide', Australia praised for its actions
>>13499300 Victoria's China deal was done through Premier Daniel Andrews' office, not the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources
>>13499309 'Insidious': Former ASIO boss Duncan Lewis warns on Chinese interference in Australia (2019)
>>13499394 Australia tearing up formal Belt and Road deal has little exemplary effect - Shen Yujia - globaltimes.cn
>>13499403 GT Voice: Australia in over its head with provocative action - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>13499411 Australia's continued escalation of tensions prompts Chinese companies' diversification drive - GT staff reporters - globaltimes.cn
>>13500664 Australian defense minister's comments against China confuse right and wrong: Chinese FM - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>13500664 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on April 23, 2021
>>13500714 Push to cut more Chinese accords - Foreign Minister Marise Payne urged to tear up China's Confucius Institute agreements and NT government's 99-year Port of Darwin lease
>>13500719 Time to face down the wolf warriors: Beijing's threats require a united, measured and calm response - Peter Jennings - theaustralian.com.au
>>13515337 Defence Minister Peter Dutton: war with China over Taiwan "should not be discounted" - Potential China war sees audit of deals, including Port of Darwin
>>13515342 Academic Jane Golley backtracks on "anonymous article" casting doubt over human rights abuses in Xinjiang
>>13515355 Australian fruits face delays at Chinese ports due to strict anti-virus inspections: sources - Yin Yeping - globaltimes.cn
>>13517899 'Get ready to fight for our liberty,' Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo
>>13517916 The drums of war are growing louder - Michael Pezzullo - theaustralian.com.au
>>13522368 Video: China says Australia must stick to 'One China' policy after Peter Dutton warns of conflict over Taiwan independence
>>13522384 Australia inflates presence on Taiwan question to show loyalty to US - Li Qingqing - globaltimes.cn
>>13522393 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on April 26, 2021
>>13522425 Academic's mea culpa on China Uighur abuse comments - Jane Golley - theaustralian.com.au
>>13522894 People's Liberation Army Major General Jin Yinan mocks Australia as 'white supremacist'
>>13529854 Video: 'Drums of war' warnings spread across the world to British news - Sky News Australia
>>13529868 'Drums of war beating' warns Australia as China tension grows - Page 1, The Times Newspaper, UK - April 28 2021
>>13529891 Northern Territory bases' $747m boost after 'drums of war' warning
>>13529937 China says Australia is 'sick', needs to 'take medicine' after Morrison government's most senior diplomat said Beijing wanted to compromise key Australian interests
>>13529942 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on April 27, 2021
>>13529959 GT Voice: Spiraling of Canberra moves against Chinese interests to backfire - Global Times - globaltimes.cn
>>13530313 Victoria's axed Belt deal 'not end of the road', says Victoria's Acting Premier James Merlino
>>13530328 Deal on Darwin Port under the shadows of Australian politicians - Ai Jun - globaltimes.cn
>>13530344 Let war games begin: ADF training bases upgraded in major strategic step-up aimed at expanding "war gaming" with the US and defending the Indo-Pacific
>>13539534 Prime Minister says no security concerns raised with him about Darwin Port lease to Chinese company Landbridge
#13700239 at 2021-05-19 09:25:01 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13328300 (pb)
>>13328317 (pb)
Australia has become even keener US 'deputy'
Bruce Haigh - 2021-05-19
Former US president George W. Bush referred to Australia as the "deputy sheriff" of the United States in Asia in October 2003. At first, then Australian prime minister John Howard seemed pleased with the descriptor; however, following criticism from Indonesia and Malaysia, he sought to distance himself from it.
However, the term stuck, particularly in light of the fact that Australia had just followed the US into war in Iraq when it had no good reason for doing so. The perception persists that Australia remains in that role, although it has not taken much pressure from the US to hold it there. In fact, under current Prime Minister Scott Morrison, it would be fair to say that Australia has become an even keener deputy sheriff.
The actions Australia has taken in recent times with respect to China should be seen against the background of this role, as well as the emotional connection that conservative Australians have toward the US, particularly the ruling Liberal National Party and particularly after Donald Trump became US president in 2016.
Otherwise, how can the actions of Australia toward China be rationally explained? They defy common sense.
The LNP has not adjusted its thinking post-Trump. If anything, it has become more hard-line, such as the federal government canceling the Belt and Road Initiative memorandums of understanding between the Victorian government and China exactly 12 months after Morrison accused China of "fostering COVID-19" through the so-called wet markets of Wuhan, and unilaterally calling for an international investigation.
In retaliation for canceling the mutually beneficial Victoria-Beijing BRI pacts, China suspended the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue. Though the Beijing move is largely nominal, it set the scene for a further deterioration in relations.
The Wuhan accusation was the trigger on a gun already loaded by Australia's taking the lead to ban Huawei from building its 5G network, undertaken on advice from US security agencies. Responsive trade limits from China followed; however, the economic impact has been hidden from the Australian public by unprecedented levels of borrowing brought about by government stimulus in the face of the COVID pandemic.
For years, anti-Chinese sentiment among the Australian public has been fanned by the Rupert Murdoch media empire, which owns 70 percent of the media in Australia. In light of the Australian government's negativity toward China, other media outlets have felt constrained to follow suit.
Australia has acquiesced to US pressure to increase its defense presence in the Northern Territory and is considering rescinding the 99-year lease that the Chinese company Landbridge has with respect to the Port of Darwin. At the moment there is no domestic counterbalance to the negativity being fostered within Australia toward China.
China no doubt perceives Australian moves as rude ignorance and discriminative animosity toward China. Nonetheless, Chinese "aggression" toward Australia feeds the narrative of the Australian right wing and makes them feel justified in "taking on" China more.
And the US is happy enough to encourage the "deputy sheriff" to swing the lead?a no-lose situation for Uncle Sam. The Australians do their dirty work, the Americans lose nothing; in fact, they have gained trade opportunities at Australia's expense.
The world knows what the US stands for: It is driven by money and power, not morality, not empathy and not compassion.
China can be different. China is a great country and will be a force for good. It does not have to reflect US norms and ways of operating internationally. It can write new rules and deploy new forms of behavior. It should take the lead with confidence.
What is obvious is that the world is looking for leadership. China must rise above the petty games dictated by the US and Australia if it is to realize its full potential.
The author is a former diplomat and political commentator from Australia.
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202105/19/WS60a46783a31024ad0babfe50.html
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/china-daily-usa/20210519
https://brucehaigh.com.au
#13642368 at 2021-05-12 07:56:36 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13485007
>>13515337
>>13569625
China accuses Australia of 'pathological obsession' with war
Michael Smith - May 12, 2021
China has used its most influential media outlet to accuse Australia of having a "pathological obsession" with war against China as it claimed the Morrison government had destroyed the bilateral relationship to appease its American "masters".
An opinion piece in the People's Daily, the Communist Party's official mouthpiece, this week said the "destruction" of Australia-China relations was being driven by the United States, which it said wanted to use Canberra to try to contain China in the Asia-Pacific region.
It noted the government's review of a 99-year lease by Chinese company Landbridge on the Port of Darwin, the scrapping of Victoria's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) deal and Australian officials' raising of the possibility of a military conflict with China over Taiwan.
"This pathological obsession stems from the diplomatic short-sightedness of Australia being kidnapped by political self-interest. After World War II, the US-Australia military alliance has always been the ballast stone of Australia's foreign policy," the article said.
"Australia, which is obsessed with the so-called 'middle power diplomacy', still has unrealistic assessments of its own strength and international status, trying to increase its value by showing strength to China and strive to become a regional hegemon."
Beijing has long accused Canberra of following the United States' lead in the region, even though Australia introduced foreign interference laws and restricted Chinese tech giant's Huawei's involvement in 5G telecommunications networks before other countries.
Tensions with China are expected to intensify in coming weeks if the Morrison government scraps Landbridge's lease on the Port of Darwin. China last week suspended a forum for regular high-level talks with Australia on economic issues.
Bloomberg this week also reported that at least two of China's second-tier liquefied natural gas (LNG) importers have been instructed to avoid buying shipments from Australia.
The report came as China signalled it would import more natural gas from the central Asian nation of Turkmenistan as it seeks to diversify its reliance on Australian commodities such as LNG, coal and iron ore.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton said last month that conflict between China and Taiwan could not be discounted, while Home Affairs Secretary Michael Pezzullo warned the "drums of war were beating". The comments have puzzled observers outside Australia because there is no sign of an imminent attack on Taiwan by China.
China has slapped restrictions or tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Australian coal, wine, barley, lobster, timber, and cotton since April last year after the Morrison government called for an international inquiry into the origins of coronavirus. The United States has stepped up exports of some agricultural products to China as part of its phase-one trade deal brokered during the presidency of Donald Trump.
"If Australia loses the Chinese market, how much can its American master help? On the one hand, the United States has been unable to take care of its own weak recovery from the epidemic; on the other hand, when Australian agricultural exports to China suffered setbacks, the United States actively seized the market gap left by Australia," the People's Daily commentary said.
China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said last week it had "indefinitely suspended" its participation in the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue. Trade Minister Dan Tehan said the move was disappointing, but that the government still wanted to engage with China at the ministerial level.
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week met senior ministers from Turkmenistan in the central city of Xi'an, where they declared bilateral cooperation in natural gas was the"bedrock" of ties between the two countries.
"China sees Turkmenistan as its long-term cooperative partner in the field of natural gas and is willing to negotiate with Turkmenistan on a far-sighted, future-proofed comprehensive co-operation plan," Mr Wang said in comments published by China's Foreign Ministry.
https://www.afr.com/world/asia/china-accuses-australia-s-of-pathological-obsession-with-war-20210512-p57r80
#13603511 at 2021-05-07 06:27:12 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13485007
>>13595127
Beijing calls the Morrison government 'insane' after Belt and Road retaliation
WILL GLASGOW - MAY 7, 2021
1/2
Beijing has blasted the Morrison government for its "insane suppression" of the Australia-China relationship, as it justified its tit-for-tat scuttling of a high-level economic and trade dialogue with Australia.
The suspension of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue on Thursday was apparently in retaliation to the Morrison government's scrapping of Victoria's Belt and Road deal and came after the announcement of a review of the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin by Chinese company Landbridge.
It triggered a sell-off of the Australian dollar, stoked anxiety among China-exposed Australian businesses and was followed by a denunciation of the "wildness of Australian politicians" by a Chinese government adviser.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman blasted Australia at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday evening.
"We urge the Australian side to cast aside the Cold-War mentality and ideological bias, view China's development and China-Australia cooperation in a truly objective light, return to the rational track without further delay and correct its mistakes," Mr Wang said.
"It should stop the insane suppression targeting China-Australia cooperation, stop politicising and stigmatising normal exchange and stop going further down the wrong path," he said.
"Australia must bear all responsibility for this."
Speaking in London overnight, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she was "disappointed'' that China had suspended economic dialogue with Australia, as it has been a "valuable tool for minister to engage'' in Treasury and finance.
"We have been very clear that we were willing and able to participate in an ongoing Strategic and Economic Dialogue that is ultimately a decision for China ... Australia is very ready to engage in dialogue with our counterparts at any level,'' she said.
China-exposed businesses were alarmed at the formalisation of a diplomatic freeze Xi Jinping's administration had unofficially imposed in 2018 after the Turnbull government banned Huawei from Australia's 5G network.
"Beijing's decision to suspend the Strategic Economic Dialogue marks a new low in the relationship, one that is of deep concern to the business community," said Australia China Business Council president David Olsson.
"This is a serious diplomatic challenge that cannot be dismissed as just another case of Beijing ramping up the pressure on Australia," said Mr Olsson, a partner at the Hong Kong-headquartered law firm King & Wood Mallesons.
Over the past year, China has imposed trade strikes on more than $20bn of annual Australian imports, including coal, wine, barley, timber and lobster.
The Australian dollar on Thursday fell 0.5 per cent to US77.07c after the announcement, but had recovered by Friday.
Trade Minister Dan Tehan said it was "disappointing" to learn about the formal suspension.
"The Strategic Economic Dialogue, which was last held in 2017, is an important forum for Australia and China to work through issues relevant to our economic partnership," Mr Tehan said.
"We remain open to holding the dialogue and engaging at the ministerial level," he said.
The Australian government had previously described the accord as one of the "premier bilateral economic meetings with China".
(continued)
#13595127 at 2021-05-06 07:14:55 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13485007
China suspends economic accord with Australia
WILL GLASGOW and HEIDI HAN - MAY 6, 2021
Beijing has suspended an annual meeting with Australia's Treasurer and Trade minister - formalising the diplomatic freeze Xi Jinping's administration has imposed on Canberra since relations unravelled in 2018.
The immediate suspension of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue was apparently in retaliation to the Morrison government's scrapping of Victoria's Belt and Road deal and review of the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin Port by the Chinese company Landbridge.
Explaining the decision, China's National Reform and Development Commission said recent measures taken by the Morrison government had revealed its "Cold War mindset" and "ideological discrimination".
"Based on the current attitude of the Australian federal government towards China-Australia co-operation, the National Development and Reform Commission has decided to suspend indefinitely all activities under the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue mechanism," China's top economic planning body said in a statement on Thursday.
Despite being billed as an annual meeting when it was announced by the Gillard government in 2013, the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue only met three times in 2014, 2015 and for the last time in 2017.
Trade Minister Dan Tehan said it was "disappointing" to learn about the formal suspension.
"The Strategic Economic Dialogue, which was last held in 2017, is an important forum for Australia and China to work through issues relevant to our economic partnership," Minister Tehan said.
"We remain open to holding the dialogue and engaging at the Ministerial level," he said.
The Australian dollar was down 0.5pc at US77.07c shortly after the announcement, after trading as high as US77.58c during the morning.
The Australian government has previously described the accord - designed to boost trade between both sides and introduce large Chinese investors - as one of the "premier bilateral economic meetings with China". But relations between the two have plunged into the deep freeze.
China's move is the first official halt to bilateral co-operation after it launched a series of trade bans, tariffs and restrictions on imports of Australian imports, including coal, wine, barley, timber and seafood, valued at more than $2bn.
The proclamation comes after the Morrison government scrapped Belt and Road initiatives between the Victorian government and China, which were overseen by the National Development and Reform Commission and which are part of China's massive infrastructure initiative across Asia and the world.
It also comes after Defence Minister Peter Dutton confirmed that his department was reviewing a $500m Port Darwin lease agreement between the Northern Territory and Chinese company Landbridge Group.
Darwin is the most important port on Australia's north coast, the closest to Asia and a base for US Marines who rotate in and out of the country.
The announcement prompted a furious response from China, which warned of "serious harm" in the already fractured relationship.
Before the suspension announced on Thursday, the last major communication the NDRC had in with Australia was a March 2020 phone call between deputy director Ning Jizhe and Daniel Andrews. Ning reportedly expressed gratitude for the state's "firm support" for China's fight against the pandemic and the Victorian Premier's willingness to "actively explore expansion under the framework of the Belt and Road initiative".
The last minister-level meetings involving China and Australia were in November 2018 - when Foreign Minister Marise Payne and her counterpart Wang Yi held talks at the 5th Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue - and then defence minister Christopher Pyne's visit to China in January 2019.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/economics/china-suspends-economic-accord-with-australia/news-story/083c7ba90f9916772919be9c2f295dfb
#13577505 at 2021-05-04 07:31:49 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13577468
Gunner backflips on praise for Darwin Port lease and Belt and Road Initiative
Sky News Australia
4 May 2021
Chief Minister Michael Gunner has sensationally reversed his original position on the Darwin Port lease to Chinese company Landbridge after the Department of Defence opened an investigation into the controversial deal.
In 2018, the chief minister was full of praise for the both the 99-year lease of the Darwin Port and China's Belt and Road Initiative.
Speaking to a Chinese Australia Business Function he said, "Today our relationship with China is stronger than it has ever been."
"In many ways I believe our relationship with China is our gift to Australia".
"The Northern Territory and China are showing the rest of Australia how Chinese investment can work in Australia and how it can work well."
However, on Monday Mr Gunner was critical of the deal and shifted the blame onto the former Country Liberal Power administration who signed the deal in 2015.
The Darwin Port cost the Northern Territory government hundreds of millions in upkeep and maintenance before the lease was finalised.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xO9OMeRRnw
#13577489 at 2021-05-04 07:28:21 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13577485
2/2
Not surprisingly, Chinese businesses will go to considerable lengths to please the CCP. Within China, Landbridge markets itself as the "nation's brand, world's Landbridge" focused on "actively responding to the call of the state" and contributing "to the realisation of the Chinese dream".
A Landbridge corporate video of August 2019, available on YouTube, makes it clear its head office in Rizhao in southeastern Shandong province sees the Port of Darwin as "building an important maritime co-operation pivot for the One Belt and One Road ... to contribute to China a more powerful port strength".
It would be wrong to dismiss such language as just what Chinese businesses do to curry favour with the CCP. Delivering key Xi objectives results in favourable attention from party leaders and access to financing.
The only sensible national response is to ask what Chinese business support for CCP objectives might mean for Chinese-owned and controlled Australian critical infrastructure - ports, the electricity grid, gas pipelines, information technology, agricultural businesses - at a time when the CCP is "punishing" Australia.
Fourth, American strategy is changing. Under Donald Trump and continuing under Joe Biden, the US military is reshaping its strategy for dealing with China, recognising the risk of conflict in the Indo-Pacific is sharply rising.
Washington is rapidly shaping a strategy of "dispersal" of its forces in times of crisis to reduce the likelihood of successful attacks on places such as Guam and Japan.
In these scenarios, northern Australia takes on added strategic importance to the security of our entire region. This explains in part why the government added $200m to total a $747m spend on defence training ranges in the north. Remember, just about every litre of fuel, every round of ammunition, every piece of military equipment used at those training ranges will be offloaded at the Port of Darwin.
Defence's 2015 response to the 99-year Landbridge lease was that it was of no concern because it didn't affect the small navy base, HMAS Coonawarra. The Department of Defence secretary at the time, Dennis Richardson, told a parliamentary committee in October 2015: "We can only look at this in terms of our interests. Does it raise national security concerns for us as a department? It does not. If other people have other issues about foreign ownership of whatever, that is not an issue that concerns us unless it impinges on our interests and responsibilities."
Today, Defence must look at our national security interests in the Port of Darwin, not just how many days patrol boats need to access a wharf. Darwin is emerging as a strategic location not just for Australia, but for our allies and partners. Control of the port matters even more now than in 2015.
Because China has launched on a path of regional domination, all Indo-Pacific countries must assess critical infrastructure vulnerabilities inherent in the presence of large Chinese businesses with their obligations to the CCP. This forces an uncomfortable break with past hopes for mutually beneficial business relations, but hard strategic reality must shape what happens from now.
Peter Jennings is executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and a former deputy secretary for strategy with the Department of Defence.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/we-need-darwin-port-back-in-our-hands/news-story/d289406db780d685fc0b1112b4785475
#13577485 at 2021-05-04 07:27:37 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13577468
>>13577477
We need Darwin Port back in our hands
PETER JENNINGS - MAY 4, 2021
1/2
Defence Minister Peter Dutton has asked his department "to come back with some advice" about the future of the 99-year lease by Chinese company Landbridge of the Port of Darwin. Hopefully, Defence takes this shot at redemption, correcting a dreadful policy error when it concluded in 2015 that the lease was not a problem.
Leave to one side that policy snafu and ask what has happened since 2015 that should force a rethink of the lease. The answer is that strategic change is reshaping our region, raising serious risks to stability and forcing fundamental shifts in our Defence planning.
First and most obviously, Xi Jinping's China is on an aggressive course to dominate the Indo-Pacific, supplant the US as the region's leading military power, weaken its allies and brook no dissent against Beijing's wishes.
In 2017 Australia's foreign policy white paper said: "The government is committed to strong and constructive ties with China. We welcome China's greater capacity to share responsibility for supporting regional and global security."
That line could not believably be written today. The truth of the matter is that Beijing has no interest in sharing responsibility for regional security. In the South China Sea, over Taiwan, at the border with India and in its dealing with Australia, Beijing shows its aim is to destroy the international order and replace it with its own authoritarian control.
A second change is that the economic relationship we once welcomed with China is being used by Beijing as an instrument of coercion and punishment. In the view of the Chinese embassy, Australia is responsible for everything negative in the relationship.
China's deputy ambassador told a Canberra audience recently that those who "sabotage the friendship between our two countries ... will be casted (sic) aside in history. Their children will be ashamed of mentioning their names in the history." In this state of mind any Australian point of difference will be treated as "sabotage" to be punished.
Third, Xi is consolidating Chinese Communist Party control over Chinese and Hong Kong businesses to ensure they advance the party's priorities. In 2017 Beijing adopted a National Intelligence Law, saying: "Any organisation and citizen shall, in accordance with the law, support, provide assistance, and co-operate in national intelligence work, and guard the secrecy of any national intelligence work that they are aware of."
The June 2020 National Security Law for Hong Kong claims to apply the same coercive powers over Hong Kong citizens and businesses. Beijing asserts in article 38 of the law that it can apply to anyone, anywhere in the world.
At the time of the port lease, some Australian commentators dismissed concerns about Landbridge's connections to the CCP as "paranoia". China Matters director Linda Jakobson wrote in The Australian in November 2015: "The existence of armed militias and connections to the party are integral to the way society functions in China." We just need to have "a higher degree of comprehension of the way China functions" and stop "fearmongering". What has become clearer is that the CCP under Xi has significantly reasserted party control of the business sector. As Alibaba's Jack Ma has found, displeasing the party can lead to public disappearance and hefty fines.
(continued)
#13577477 at 2021-05-04 07:25:47 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13577468
Landbridge Group Worldwide Corporate Video (English)
Landbridge Group
4 Sept 2019
English Version Ver. 15 Aug 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1R8gj0MHZk
https://www.Landbridge.com.hk/about.html
#13577473 at 2021-05-04 07:24:53 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13577468
2/2
Defence Minister Peter Dutton told Nine newspapers this week that his department had been asked to ''come back with some advice" on the Landbridge lease, and ''we can look at options that are in our national interests after that''. Scott Morrison last week said if Defence or national security agencies had changed their views on the lease, "then you could expect me as Prime Minister to take that advice very seriously and act accordingly".
If the government renationalised the port, which Landbridge bought for $509m in 2015, taxpayers would likely be left with a significant compensation bill.
Such a move would also further infuriate the Chinese government, which has piled trade bans on more than $20bn of Australian exports over a raft of grievances.
China's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin last week warned the Morrison government to "stop disrupting normal exchange and co-operation with China".
China's state-sanctioned Global Times newspaper said the ending of the lease "would mark a sad and new low in bilateral relations". In an editorial, it said Chinese companies needed to prepare for legal recourse to defend their rights and interests against "Canberra's deliberate provocation".
The privately owned Landbridge Group rejected commentary in 2015 by China expert Geoff Wade, who said the company was "a commercial front intimately tied to state-owned operations, the party and the (People's Liberation Army)".
Its vice-president in Australia, Mike Hughes, told The Australian on Monday that the company bought the lease to the port "in good faith following a transparent process in 2015".
"Our involvement was reviewed by both (the Foreign Investment Review Board) and the Department of Defence at the time and it has been subject to a Senate inquiry," he said.
"We are aware of reports of a new review to be conducted by the Department of Defence and are willing to participate in this review as required."
The FIRB, which was consulted in the deal but not required to explicitly sign-off on it, asked Defence multiple times for its views on the proposed lease, in 2014 and 2015, and was told it had no reservations about the deal.
The government has since changed the law, requiring the FIRB to specifically approve all investments in a "sensitive national security business", regardless of the value of the deal.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/chinese-owner-here-for-the-state/news-story/6e3dec05fd6cdd594bfc478c805af36b
#13577468 at 2021-05-04 07:24:19 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13515337
Port of Darwin: Chinese owner Landbridge Group 'here for the state'
BEN PACKHAM - MAY 4, 2021
1/2
The Chinese company operating the Port of Darwin says it will "actively respond to the call of the state", as it works toward "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation".
Landbridge, whose 99-year lease of the port is being reviewed on national security grounds, has argued against claims since the deal was signed in 2015 that it is too close to the Chinese Communist Party to resist doing its bidding.
But the company, in a little-watched corporate video posted in late 2019, says it follows Chinese government directives, and is actively working to implement Xi Jinping's blueprint for a globally dominant China.
"Landbridge Group follows the One Belt and One Road to the world, so that the world can feel the speed and strength of Chinese national enterprises," it says on the video, accessed via the company's Hong Kong website. "In the future, Landbridge will continue to actively respond to the call of the state, take the initiative to undertake major national strategic mechanisms, always adhere to the national interest ... and strive to become the most influential multinational enterprise group on the Eastern Coast of China."
Defence is reviewing the Landbridge lease of the port on the orders of the national security committee of cabinet, amid concerns it could be associated with espionage, sabotage or economic coercion. Australian Strategic Policy Institute director Peter Jennings said he hoped Defence "takes this shot at redemption", after its "dreadful policy error when it concluded in 2015 that the lease was not a problem".
"Darwin is emerging as a strategic location not just for Australia, but for our allies and partners. Control of the port matters even more now than it did in 2015," Mr Jennings writes in The Australian on Tuesday.
He says it is unsurprising Chinese businesses "will go to considerable lengths to please the CCP". "The only sensible national response is to ask what Chinese business support for CCP objectives might mean for Chinese- owned and controlled Australian critical infrastructure - ports, the electricity grid, gas pipelines, information-technology, agricultural businesses - at a time when the CCP is 'punishing' Australia," Mr Jennings says.
The chairman of parliament's intelligence and security committee, James Paterson, said even Chinese business people "with the most innocent and pure motivations" were subject to CCP coercion. "There is no such thing as a purely private business in China. Just ask (Alibaba founder) Jack Ma," Senator Paterson said.
(continued)
#13569625 at 2021-05-03 08:30:35 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13515337
>>13539534
'Strategic own goal': Defence reviews Port of Darwin's Chinese ownership
Anthony Galloway - May 2, 2021
The Morrison government has asked the Department of Defence to review the Northern Territory's 99-year-lease of the Port of Darwin to the Chinese-owned company Landbridge - a deal that has unsettled national security figures in the federal government since it was signed six years ago.
Defence officials are looking at whether the company, owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, should be forced to give up its ownership of the port on national security grounds under critical infrastructure laws passed in 2018.
The federal opposition and national security experts have questioned the deal since it was signed in 2015.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton confirmed the National Security Committee of Cabinet had tasked his department to "come back with some advice, so that work is already under way".
Asked whether the options would include forced divestment, Mr Dutton said the government needed to wait for Defence to provide its advice and, "we can look at options that are in our national interests after that".
Mr Dutton's comments follow Prime Minister Scott Morrison suggesting last week his government would act on the port's ownership if he received advice from the Department of Defence or national security agencies.
"If there is any advice that I receive from the Department of Defence or intelligence agencies that suggest that there are national security risks there then you'd expect the government to take action on that, and that would be right," Mr Morrison said.
Michael Shoebridge, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's defence program, said he would support forcing Landbridge to divest from the asset but the company should consider doing so themselves.
"I would wonder whether it is in the company's commercial interests to continue operating that port for 99 years in the strategic environment they find themselves," he said.
"I think it's obvious that if the Darwin port lease was being considered today, the result would not be to lease it to a Chinese-owned company for 99 years.
"So with that realisation, how do you undo the damage and more importantly how do you develop Darwin as an increasingly important naval and defence facility in the darker strategic environment we and our partners and allies find ourselves in?"
Mr Shoebridge said the alternative to forced divestment was to develop the port around the section owned by Landbridge, "treating that part of Darwin port like the sand in the oyster".
"It seems a strategic own goal for one of the best parts of Darwin harbour to be in the control of a Chinese-owned operator," he said.
In 2015, the NT government signed the $506 million agreement with Landbridge, giving the Chinese company total operational control of the port and 80 per cent of ownership of the land and facilities of East Arm wharf including the marine supply base.
The federal government then tightened the foreign investment rules, requiring the Foreign Investment Review Board to approve the sale of critical infrastructure such as ports to private companies.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/strategic-own-goal-defence-reviews-port-of-darwin-s-chinese-ownership-20210502-p57o49.html
#13539534 at 2021-04-29 08:48:09 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13515337
Prime Minister says no security concerns raised with him about Darwin Port lease to Chinese company Landbridge
Jano Gibson - 28 April 2021
The Prime Minister says he would act if national security concerns were raised about any critical infrastructure in Australia, but he has indicated no such advice has been provided about the Darwin Port.
Chinese company Landbridge purchased a 99-year lease over the facility as part of a $506 million deal negotiated by the Northern Territory's former CLP government in 2015.
But the deal over the strategically important asset has been the subject of ongoing scrutiny and criticism amid rising diplomatic and economic tensions between Australia and China.
Last month, a federal parliamentary committee recommended the Commonwealth consider reclaiming Australian ownership of the port if the lease was deemed to be against the national interest.
Yesterday, former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd called on the federal government to conduct and make public a national security review of the port lease.
Mr Rudd said the deal had become a political problem for Scott Morrison, because it had occurred under his watch as federal treasurer.
But during a visit to Darwin on Wednesday, Mr Morrison defended his handling of the port deal, saying it was the sole responsibility of the former Territory government.
"It was not a lease that was approved by the federal government, it was not, that was not something that was subject to federal laws at that time," Mr Morrison said.
"And, indeed, as treasurer, I made sure that in the future that such transactions would be subject to federal approvals."
The Prime Minister said if any adverse assessments were made by security agencies, he would respond as necessary.
"If there is advice from the Defence Department or our security agencies that change their view about the national security implications of any piece of critical infrastructure ... then you could expect me, as Prime Minister, to take that advice very seriously and to act accordingly."
However, he said he had not received any such advice.
The government has repeatedly said the port deal with Landbridge is not subject to the same legislation that recently allowed Victoria's Belt and Road Initiative agreement with China to be rescinded.
Mr Morrison was asked if the government was looking at any alternative issues, including Landbridge's contract obligations.
"That presupposes a piece of advice from our Defence and intelligence agencies," he said.
"And there is not anything before the government that would make that recommendation."
NT CLP senator Sam McMahon yesterday said she too had been told that there were no security concerns about the port lease.
However, she confirmed she had asked the Foreign Affairs Minister to assess whether Landbridge was abiding by its contractual obligations to improve infrastructure at the port.
"If it wasn't, then the minister would have to make a decision on whether the breach was such that it would warrant some sort of action," she said.
Landbridge told the ABC it had met all of its commitments under its agreement with the NT government.
"We continue to work collaboratively with the Northern Territory government and our stakeholders to develop and expand Darwin Port's operational capacity," Landbridge Australia's managing director, Mike Hughes, said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-28/darwin-port-lease-no-security-concerns-raised-scott-morrison/100101724
#13530328 at 2021-04-28 10:03:07 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13515337
Deal on Darwin Port under the shadows of Australian politicians
Ai Jun - Apr 28, 2021
1/2
After Australia tore up Victoria's Belt and Road agreement with China, will the lease of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company be next? Conjecture is mounting after Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton suggested on Sunday the program may be reviewed under the name of "national interests." Former prime minister Kevin Rudd echoed the view on Tuesday, predicting the Morrison administration will "tear up the lease" during an interview with ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio Darwin.
The 99-year lease, worth AU$506 million ($393 million), was inked in 2015 between Chinese company, Landbridge Group, and Australia's Northern Territory government. At that time, Canberra was promoting its vision and strategy for developing Northern Australia, hoping to turn the vastly underdeveloped region into a thriving place of manufacturing, clean energy and research and innovation. Yet Australia is short of funding for it, thus the country invited foreign enterprises for investment. The successful Landbridge bid helped resolve the region's issue over the lack of cash for development.
In the same year, then secretary of the Department of Defense Dennis Richardson told Australian Senate committee that the rhetoric of Landbridge's lease posing a security risk was "absurd" and "alarmist nonsense." However, six years later, Australia is making a U-turn in its stance. The previous "absurd nonsense" has become a matter of national interests. No one ever provided any evidence. It seems what the lease really is depends on what Australian politicians say based on their political calculations.
The lease did not change, but the international environment has. Six years ago, China and the US had stable ties. Yet the US is launching a comprehensive containment against China today.
Observers believe that for the Australian government, the so-called national interests is all about following the US' footsteps closely to maintain Canberra's regional hegemony based on Washington's endorsement. And for Australian politicians, only a nod from the US can help them secure a promotion in their personal careers. They could not care less about national interests when it comes to their appetite over their personal political future.
Yu Lei, chief research fellow at the research center for Pacific island countries of Liaocheng University in East China's Shandong Province, told the Global Times on Tuesday, "Dutton is a figure with big ambition, so is Foreign Minister Marise Payne, they are both seeking to become prime minister." So when they talk about "national interests," rest assured, it has nothing to do with the country's economy, long-term development or people's living standards, Yu said, adding it is all about their personal gains.
(continued)
#13529959 at 2021-04-28 07:37:45 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13515337
GT Voice: Spiraling of Canberra moves against Chinese interests to backfire
Global Times - Apr 26, 2021
The Port of Darwin lease with a Chinese company could be the next target of Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne, after tearing up the state of Victoria's Belt and Road contract with China, the country's defense minister Peter Dutton suggested on Sunday.
Noting that the port lease was one of the thousands of cases Payne was examining, he said that "I think it is a question for Marise to look at these individual cases. If it is not in our national interests then obviously she will act."
Even though Dutton did not directly call for a scrap of the lease deal, his remarks were interpreted by Australian media outlets as sending a signal that the Port of Darwin lease with the Chinese company is in danger.
In response, a spokesperson from China's Foreign Ministry on Monday expressed hope that Australia could treat China-Australia economic cooperation fairly and stop sabotaging normal business interactions.
While encouraging Chinese enterprises to conduct overseas investment and cooperation in accordance with market principles and international rules and on the basis of abiding by local laws, the Chinese government will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises investing and operating abroad.
The Northern Territory Government inked a 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company named Landbridge Group in 2015. If the Morrison government intended to go political and interfere with the port project the Chinese company has been running for years, it would mark a sad and new low in bilateral relations, resulting from a clear escalation of Canberra's deliberate provocation against Chinese companies.
It is no secret that the animosity that Canberra holds towards China is so strong that it has already blocked dozens of investment deals with Chinese companies in recent years. In August 2020, Chinese dairy behemoth Mengniu Dairy was forced to ditch a A$600 million acquisition deal to acquire Australian dairy brand Lion-Dairy & Drinks after Canberra said the business deal was "not in the national interest" of Australia.
If Australia continues to intentionally escalate its hostility by undermining existing cooperative projects involving Chinese companies, it will hurt Chinese investors, but Australian businesses would also suffer greatly.
Moreover, Chinese companies that have been abiding by local laws and contributing to the Australian economy should defend their lawful rights by resorting to laws and demand fair compensation, if they were forced to terminate operation due to political reasons.
In the case of the Port of Darwin lease, Landbridge has made long-term investment plans for the port, including but not limited to an initial $35 million of new investment in the first five years of its lease.
Against the backdrop of the growing anti-China sentiment in Canberra, there are plenty of reasons for us to warn Chinese business entities against the growing uncertainty in Australia. They should heighten their alert there.
Precautions are needed for Chinese companies to seek legal recourse to defend their rights and interests. Meanwhile, relevant Chinese authorities should also offer legal assistance to help Chinese businesses, while a response in kind should also be considered.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1222156.shtml
#13500721 at 2021-04-24 08:50:10 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13500719
2/3
Comments from the Chinese embassy have become increasingly incomprehensible. Wang Xining, the mission's deputy, told the National Press Club: "China is not a cow. I don't think anybody should fancy the idea to milk China when she's in her prime and plot to slaughter it in the end."
Perhaps this is why Beijing refused last week to renew licences for Australian farmers to export hay to China's growing domestic dairy industry?
This latest effort in economic coercion, to punish Australia for exercising its political sovereignty, is yet another example of the lack of strategic thinking in China's actions. Australia exports oaten hay to China's rapidly growing dairy industry. This is widely regarded as a high-quality, palatable feedstock, preferable to alfalfa, straw or other cereal hays exported by other countries.
While the Chinese ban will inconvenience Australian farmers, it is likely they will be able to find other markets for their oaten hay, just as barley farmers did a few months ago. In the meantime Chinese dairy farmers lose access to the best available product for their cows.
Contrary to criticism from the opposition, government ministers are picking their words carefully and not reacting to the sillier comments from Beijing. Against the signs of an increasingly panicky Chinese Communist Party, Morrison's senior ministers look and sound more assured.
Payne's use of Australia's Foreign Relations Act to cancel Victoria's Belt and Road agreements was calm and sensible, as was Defence Minister Peter Dutton's measured statement on Friday that "we're not going to have our values compromised, we aren't going to surrender our sovereignty".
Payne foreshadowed that while the "overwhelming majority" of foreign agreements would not be affected, it was possible that some would be cancelled.
High on the government's list for consideration must surely be the dozen or so secret agreements bringing Confucius Institutes on to Australian university campuses. The way these institutes function is surely an anathema to what should be a central university value for fiercely independent research.
To sustain the funding flow from Confucius Institutes, universities run the risk that courses on Chinese history or international relations cannot discuss Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, the illegal annexation of the South China Sea, human rights and other topics discomforting to Beijing. It's way past time the institutes were closed.
It's also past time that the government took decisive steps to end the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company, Landbridge.
Readers will recall the farcical circumstances in which the port was leased in 2015, at the same time Australian foreign and defence ministers were meeting their US counterparts in Boston and agreeing to "pursue enhanced naval co-operation across all domains, including additional combined training and exercises".
Whatever initial promises for economic development made to the Northern Territory government by Landbridge, the reality is that not much is happening. Landbridge has suspended plans to build a luxury hotel near the port and advises that "if we don't resume work by end of June 2021 Landbridge will not continue with the project".
So much for a long-term perspective. Meantime, some creative thought applied to the future of the US Marine Corps presence in the Top End, and to Japan's liquefied natural gas export interests located there, could transform the port into a thriving military and export hub, involving ever-closer co-operation between three of the Indo-Pacific's most consequential democracies.
(continued)
#13500714 at 2021-04-24 08:47:24 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
>>13485007
Push to cut more Chinese accords
GEOFF CHAMBERS and JOE KELLY - APRIL 23, 2021
Foreign Minister Marise Payne is being urged to tear up China's Confucius Institute agreements with universities and the Northern Territory government's 99-year Port of Darwin lease with Chinese firm Landbridge under Australia's new foreign arrangements scheme.
Senator Payne's decision to terminate Victoria's Belt and Road Initiative agreements with Beijing under the scheme, which came into effect late last year, has sparked calls for the Morrison government to move against other Chinese deals.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings, a former Defence Department deputy secretary, said the government should take "decisive steps" to end the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin.
Writing for Inquirer, Mr Jennings said "high on the government's list for consideration must surely be the dozen or so secret agreements bringing Confucius Institutes on to Australian university campuses".
"The way these institutes function is surely an anathema to what should be a central university value for fiercely independent research," Mr Jennings wrote.
"To sustain the funding flow from Confucius Institutes, universities run the risk that courses on Chinese history or international relations cannot discuss Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, the illegal annexation of the South China Sea, human rights and other topics discomforting to Beijing. It's way past time the institutes were closed."
Under the foreign arrangements scheme, Senator Payne has reviewed more than 1000 arrangements between foreign national governments and universities, local and state governments.
In addition to cancelling the BRI agreements on the grounds of working against the national interest, Senator Payne scrapped two other deals involving Iran and Syria.
Mr Jennings argued that ending the Port of Darwin lease would be "well received domestically, by our key allies and in the region, which looks to Australia to play a strengthening role in security during troubled times".
Beijing reacted with fury during the week to the cancelling of its BRI agreements with Victoria. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China reserved the "right to take further actions" against Australia.
He said it was the first time a BRI deal had been torn-up and that the Morrison government had stooped to "political manipulation and bullying", urging Australia to abandon its "Cold War mentality and ideological bias".
Defence Minister Peter Dutton on Friday said Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews had done the "wrong thing" in signing the BRI deals and pushed back against criticism from the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Embassy.
"He shouldn't be entering into agreements that aren't in our national interest and I want to make sure that people hear that message very clearly. We are standing up for who we are and we've got very important diplomatic relations with many countries, including China," Mr Dutton said.
"But we aren't going to be compromised by the principles of the Communist Party of China and the government's made that very clear."
Mr Dutton said China's increasingly aggressive behaviour in the region was a "real problem".
"When you look at our part of the world, you look at militarisation of bases, when you look at the cyber attacks, all of that is not the action of a friend," he said.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the Opposition supported the government's Foreign Relations bill but suggested a proper explanation was needed about why Victoria's BRI deals were cancelled when nothing had happened on the Port of Darwin 99 year lease to Landbridge.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/push-to-cut-more-chinese-accords/news-story/7ec74335fe107fa244549f3679a6cbf3
#13341742 at 2021-04-01 06:52:47 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #15 - NEVER RETREAT FROM THE BATTLEFIELD Edition
#14 - Part 12
Australia / China Tensions - Part 1
>>13183795 Quad members hype 'China threat' theory to bolster their boldness - Mu Lu - globaltimes.cn
>>13184102 Former Hong Kong lawmaker and pro-democracy activist Ted Hui moves to Australia
>>13184169 Video: Australia's top spy, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess 'knows' culprit behind ANU cyber attack, but won't say
>>13184562 Video: End nears for Victoria's Belt and Road deal with Chinese government under foreign veto laws
>>13190373 Chinese takeover of iron ore operations on Cockatoo Island near Australian military training area causes unease inside defence and government
>>13190431 Hong Kong activist Ted Hui welcome to campaign in Australia, says head of government intelligence committee Senator James Paterson
>>13190540 Liberal Party donor Huifeng 'Haha' Liu 'engaged in acts of foreign interference': ASIO
>>13195888 China tells UN Australia's offshore detention centres violate human rights, don't have adequate conditions
>>13196535 Elise Thomas Tweet: They're right. This is something we should be ashamed of and something we need to fix. Whataboutism is a cop-out and we should lead by example on human rights issues
>>13200581 Propelling 'Asian NATO' beyond US capacity: Global Times editorial - globaltimes.cn
>>13241473 Australian media launches false spy accusations against Chinese business man; expatriates from the mainland at risk in the country: analysts - globaltimes.cn
>>13241520 'Just not going to happen': US Indo-Pacific co-ordinator Kurt Campbell warns China over Australian trade stoush - 'we are not going to leave Australia alone on the field'
>>13241531 Campbell's remarks push Australia further to the anti-China frontline - Chen Hong - globaltimes.cn
>>13241570 Britain aligns with Australia against China - Beijing "a systemic challenge" to British prosperity and values
>>13241638 Beijing blames Australia's 'wrong words and deeds' for trade war after US rebuke
>>13241643 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on March 16, 2021
>>13247914 Video: Don't expect a breakthrough in U.S.-China talks, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd says - CNBC International TV
>>13254571 PDF: Consider reclaiming Darwin Port from Chinese company Landbridge, committee advises federal government
>>13254571 Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth - Inquiry Into Diversifying Australia's Trade And Investment Profile
>>13254635 (2019) Former trade minister Andrew Robb quits China-linked firm Landbridge before foreign interference law kicks in
>>13254654 South Australian Premier Steven Marshall accepts invitation to formally open controversial Adelaide Chinese Consulate
>>13264371 Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan: The US has 'got our back' on Chinese diplomatic disputes
>>13273939 China faces pressure from Australian parliament on treatment of Uighurs, religious minorities
#13341687 at 2021-04-01 06:39:11 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #14 - THE ART OF WAR Edition
#14 - Part 12
Australia / China Tensions - Part 1
>>13183795 Quad members hype 'China threat' theory to bolster their boldness - Mu Lu - globaltimes.cn
>>13184102 Former Hong Kong lawmaker and pro-democracy activist Ted Hui moves to Australia
>>13184169 Video: Australia's top spy, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess 'knows' culprit behind ANU cyber attack, but won't say
>>13184562 Video: End nears for Victoria's Belt and Road deal with Chinese government under foreign veto laws
>>13190373 Chinese takeover of iron ore operations on Cockatoo Island near Australian military training area causes unease inside defence and government
>>13190431 Hong Kong activist Ted Hui welcome to campaign in Australia, says head of government intelligence committee Senator James Paterson
>>13190540 Liberal Party donor Huifeng 'Haha' Liu 'engaged in acts of foreign interference': ASIO
>>13195888 China tells UN Australia's offshore detention centres violate human rights, don't have adequate conditions
>>13196535 Elise Thomas Tweet: They're right. This is something we should be ashamed of and something we need to fix. Whataboutism is a cop-out and we should lead by example on human rights issues
>>13200581 Propelling 'Asian NATO' beyond US capacity: Global Times editorial - globaltimes.cn
>>13241473 Australian media launches false spy accusations against Chinese business man; expatriates from the mainland at risk in the country: analysts - globaltimes.cn
>>13241520 'Just not going to happen': US Indo-Pacific co-ordinator Kurt Campbell warns China over Australian trade stoush - 'we are not going to leave Australia alone on the field'
>>13241531 Campbell's remarks push Australia further to the anti-China frontline - Chen Hong - globaltimes.cn
>>13241570 Britain aligns with Australia against China - Beijing "a systemic challenge" to British prosperity and values
>>13241638 Beijing blames Australia's 'wrong words and deeds' for trade war after US rebuke
>>13241643 Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on March 16, 2021
>>13247914 Video: Don't expect a breakthrough in U.S.-China talks, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd says - CNBC International TV
>>13254571 PDF: Consider reclaiming Darwin Port from Chinese company Landbridge, committee advises federal government
>>13254571 Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth - Inquiry Into Diversifying Australia's Trade And Investment Profile
>>13254635 (2019) Former trade minister Andrew Robb quits China-linked firm Landbridge before foreign interference law kicks in
>>13254654 South Australian Premier Steven Marshall accepts invitation to formally open controversial Adelaide Chinese Consulate
>>13264371 Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan: The US has 'got our back' on Chinese diplomatic disputes
>>13273939 China faces pressure from Australian parliament on treatment of Uighurs, religious minorities
#13254638 at 2021-03-19 08:33:01 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #14 - THE ART OF WAR Edition
>>13254635
2/2
Billionaire Ye Cheng is the owner of Landbridge, which controversially acquired the 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin in 2015. He is also a member of the national Chinese People's Consultative Committee, an advisory body that President Xi Jinping has directed to "uphold the CPC [Chinese Communist Party] leadership without wavering".
Mr Ye frames much of his business activity, including the acquisition of the Port of Darwin lease, in terms of advancing Beijing's ambitious global trade and infrastructure policy "One Belt, One Road".
Mr Robb continues to advocate for Australia to back the policy although has previously insisted this is unconnected to his Landbridge consultancy.
Late last year, the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme became active with the launch of a public register for people who seek to influence the Australian political process on behalf of foreign interests. The new register is designed to ensure that, if a person is advocating on behalf of a foreign power, it is declared.
The scheme was largely prompted due to concerns about undeclared Chinese government efforts to influence Australian institutions, but applies to any lobbyist or consultant working for a company or think tank controlled by a foreign nation and involved in influencing the political process.
Lobbyists have until March 1 to register, although government sources have acknowledged that enforcing the scheme may be difficult given the lack of legal precedent surrounding its operation and the likelihood that some potential registrants will argue it does not apply to them.
Mr Robb, who quit as a minister in Malcolm Turnbull's government before the last election, previously denied working on behalf of Beijing, and defended his contract with Landbridge, saying he was not doing business in Australia, so could not be captured by the new scheme.
In December 2017, then Attorney-General George Brandis suggested that Mr Robb would have to sign up to the new register.
Landbridge confirmed Mr Robb's departure. The company has previously denied its operations are influenced by the Communist Party and stated that Mr Robb was not engaged in political representation on its behalf in Australia.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/andrew-robb-quits-china-linked-firm-before-foreign-interference-law-kicks-in-20190219-p50yv0.html
#13254635 at 2021-03-19 08:32:09 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #14 - THE ART OF WAR Edition
>>13254571
Andrew Robb quits China-linked firm before foreign interference law kicks in
Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker - February 19, 2019
1/2
Former trade minister Andrew Robb has quietly ceased his controversial $880,000 per annum consultancy with a company closely linked to the Chinese government, as the deadline looms for lobbyists for overseas state interests to sign up to Australia's new foreign influence register.
Mr Robb's consultancy with the leaseholder of the Darwin Port, Landbridge, was trumpeted by the Chinese-government aligned company in 2016, but became intensely controversial when an investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Four Corners revealed his fee, and that he had joined the company straight after quitting parliament.
It's estimated that Mr Robb pocketed more than $2 million plus expenses from Landbridge. A company document revealed that Mr Robb's consulting contract was so vague and ill-defined he would be paid even if he did nothing.
Mr Robb has confirmed that he has left Landbridge for the time being because, "at this stage, Landbridge has no other projects relevant for me to assist".
"I had been commissioned by Landbridge for well over a year to prepare a comprehensive report on ways that Australia's world class health industry could assist with a major improvement of China's public health system," Mr Robb wrote in answer to questions.
"Just before Landbridge had an opportunity to formally present my report to Chinese authorities, they were advised not to bother because the relationship between the Australian and Chinese governments 'had become so toxic' that the report would be binned."
He described the situation as "reviewable," suggesting he may begin working for the company again in future.
Mr Robb joins former foreign minister Bob Carr and former Victorian premier John Brumby in leaving lucrative roles with companies or, in Mr Carr's case, a think tank, founded by businessmen with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Mr Carr recently announced he was stepping down as director of the Australia-China Relations Institute, which was founded by controversial billionaire political donor Huang Xiangmo. Mr Huang has been blocked from entering Australia and has had his permanent residency cancelled by the Department of Home Affairs after advice from ASIO that he may engage in foreign interference activities on behalf of the Chinese government.
Mr Brumby announced in February he was quitting the Australian board of Huawei, the Chinese telco accused by security agencies of posing a security risk to western communications infrastructure.
Mr Brumby, Mr Carr and Mr Robb have previously insisted that the Chinese government has no tangible influence in the organisations they worked for, despite evidence the organisations' founders were aligned with the Chinese Communist Party willingly, or because of the way the party-state controls seemingly private companies.
(continued)
#13254571 at 2021-03-19 08:07:11 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #14 - THE ART OF WAR Edition
Consider reclaiming Darwin Port from Chinese company Landbridge, committee advises federal government
Jano Gibson - 18 March 2021
The federal government should consider reclaiming Australian ownership of Darwin Port if the facility's long-term lease to a foreign corporation is found to be against the national interest, a federal parliamentary committee has recommended.
The Northern Territory government, under the previous CLP administration, leased the strategically important infrastructure to Chinese firm Landbridge in 2015.
The 99-year deal triggered immediate concerns among some defence and diplomatic analysts because it gave operational control of the port to a foreign company at a time when tensions between the two nations were escalating.
The United States, which in 2012 began deploying hundreds of US Marines to Darwin each year, felt so blindsided by the port deal that then-president Barack Obama conveyed his concerns directly to then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
The Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth on Wednesday released a report examining Australia's trade and investment reliance on certain countries and the need to diversify its strategies.
Among its 21 recommendations, the committee suggested the federal government provide a report on whether the Darwin Port lease is subject to Australia's new Foreign Relations Act.
The legislation gives the Commonwealth the power to veto foreign agreements struck by states and territories, as well as local governments and universities.
The committee stated: "[If the port deal is subject to the act], consider taking measures to have the Port of Darwin brought back under Australian ownership if current arrangements are not deemed to be in the national interest."
It also recommended other Australian ports and strategic infrastructure owned or leased by foreign corporations be reviewed under the act.
The committee's chairman, LNP MP George Christensen, said the recommendations were aimed at protecting Australia's national interest and security in sensitive and critical areas.
"Notably, there are recommendations that go to serious concerns regarding state-owned enterprises and state-linked enterprises funding our universities and owning or leasing our strategic infrastructure, including the Port of Darwin," Mr Christensen said.
"Given the ongoing tensions with China, it is an unacceptable national security risk to have Chinese state-owned and state-linked enterprises involved in our universities ... and our strategic infrastructure."
The four Labor members of the 10-person parliamentary committee provided additional comments to the report.
They accused the NT's former CLP government and the federal Liberal-National coalition government of a "catalogue of failures" in allowing the Darwin Port lease to go ahead.
"Their poor decision-making, incompetent governance and pursuit of short-term monetary gain has compromised Australia's long-term strategic security," the Labor members said.
"The government must explain what action the Foreign Minister may or may not take under the act in relation to the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company."
NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner has previously said his government, which is mired in debt, would not contemplate buying back the port from Landbridge.
"My advice for the Prime Minister, if he's going to go down that path is, don't buy back the port," he was quoted as saying last year.
"[Instead] invest in things that will grow jobs for the Territory."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-17/government-urged-consider-reclaiming-ownership-darwin-port/13256968
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Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth
Inquiry Into Diversifying Australia's Trade And Investment Profile
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Joint_Standing_Committee_on_Trade_and_Investment_Growth/DiversifyingTrade/Report
#7387726 at 2019-11-28 06:11:38 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #6 - YEAR OF THE BOOMERANG Edition
https://www.Landbridgegroup.com.au/our-projects/
Darwin Port is strategically positioned as Australia's nearest port to Asia and the nation's 'northern gateway' for Australasian trade.
Yeah, that's why the Japs bombed in WWII and why the Chinese leased it in 2016.
It can handle Panamax class vessels.
#7387645 at 2019-11-28 05:48:35 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #6 - YEAR OF THE BOOMERANG Edition
>>7387579
Well, that's right. If the corporation that won/obtained the lease for the Port of Melbourne is in bed with China, then China owns ports on the very north and the very south of Australia.
Funny name for a company hey, Landbridge. They got the Darwin Port lease.
Maybe they can build a "bridge" with "one road" from Beijing to Brisbane.
The Chinese sure do love their islands.
If they run out of money, they could probably get a loan from Exim who is run by the Chicom state party.
The state party is responsible for ideals such as "one belt, one road".
#6894958 at 2019-07-02 07:59:12 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #5 - Shill count HIGH Edition
US ambassador's message for Morrison: 'embrace power role in Pacific'
New US ambassador Arthur Culvahouse has called on Australia to play "a great power leadership role" in the Pacific, saying he expects Scott Morrison will increasingly call out "malign influences" in the region as China increases pressure on vulnerable nations through its Belt and Road Initiative.
Mr Culvahouse said the US, not China, was Australia's most important economic partner with $1.6 trillion in two-way investment, and declared both nations needed to protect critical technology from "impermissible and pernicious theft" by Beijing.
In an interview to mark his first 100 days in the role, Mr Culvahouse reaffirmed the "solemn and unbreakable" nature of the Australia-US alliance, and declared the US would "absolutely" come to Australia's aid if it were threatened by a foreign power.
He also stepped up previous criticism of the BRI, Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature foreign policy initiative, branding it a "lose, lose, lose" proposition for developing nations across the region.
The Donald Trump appointee and adviser to Republican presidents since Richard Nixon said his mission as ambassador was to refresh the US's relationship with Australia and cement it for decades to come by engaging with Australia's future leaders and innovators.
Amid growing emphasis by the Prime Minister on his "Pacific step up", Mr Culvahouse said the US had "immense confidence" in Australia's standing in the region, with "expertise and relationships and sensitivities that exceed ours".
"We believe Australia can and should play a great power leadership role in the region," Mr Culvahouse told The Australian yesterday.
"It's Australia's area. You're a little more nimble and subtle than we are. We are not abdicating our role, by any means. But we want to pay particular attention to the Australian leadership role in our region."
A week after Mr Morrison praised China's "economic miracle" while backing US attacks on Chinese trade practices and intellectual property theft, Mr Culvahouse expressed confidence that the Prime Minister would increasingly call out bad behaviour by Beijing.
"We think the natural course is the Australian government, as it goes forward, will be even more supportive of US policy in the Pacific and that may include calling out malign influences where they see them," he said.
As Mr Trump and Mr Xi battle for influence and economic supremacy in the Indo-Pacific, Mr Culvahouse dismissed suggestions that US power in the region was on the wane, and with it the value of the Australia-US alliance.
He said the pivot to Asia announced by former Democrat president Barack Obama was "now becoming a reality" under Mr Trump, with more "soft and hard power" resources directed towards the Indo-Pacific.
Mr Culvahouse said the US and Australia, together with allies such as Japan and New Zealand, were "marshalling our forces to offer alternatives" to the BRI. He noted the recent commitment by those countries to roll out electricity and internet coverage to 70 per cent of Papua New Guinea's population.
"This region does need infrastructure. But it also needs good governance, respect for sovereignty," he said.
Mr Culvahouse said China's hacking of technology secrets was "common law theft", and criticised the infiltration of Western universities by People's Liberation Army scholars seeking quick access to dual-use innovations.
"We have got to do a better job of protecting our national security interests," Mr Culvahouse said.
"Your country and my country have tens of millions of dollars and decades of investment in these areas, and it is just impermissible that someone, through a so-called academic exchange, or doing a doctorate or dissertation, can pilfer that information and use it against us."
Mr Culvahouse said the US remained concerned about the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to Chinese company Landbridge, and welcomed strengthened foreign investment rules following the decision.
(continued)
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/us-ambassadors-message-for-morrison-embrace-power-role-in-pacific/news-story/ac321051c982b815cd26c258635ab73f
#632144 at 2018-03-11 21:47:23 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #1
http:// www.afr.com/news/world/asia/how-Landbridges-purchase-of-the-darwin-port-killed-perceived-wisdom-on-china-20170706-gx66r8
"Landbridge has a port in Rizhao [eastern China] and now we have a port in Darwin," he told state-owned newsagency Xinhua in November in 2015. "This is our involvement in One Belt, One Road."