Australia signs 99-year port lease to Chinese state-owned company with PLA malita ties

Defence experts believe the new Chinese operator of the Port of Darwin should be placed under renewed scrutiny, amid evidence of its close and extensive links to the People’s Liberation Army and the group’s recent move to set up its own armed internal militia unit.

While the Defence Department has approved the deal to sign a 99-year lease over the port ­facilities with China’s Landbridge Group, the agreement announced last month has concerned some senior Australian Defence Force officials.

Veteran Liberal senator Bill Heffernan last night called for the agreement to be reviewed in light of new information about the company, which defence experts claim is a “commercial front” for the Chinese military and the Communist Party.

The Australian
Financial Review

So, to surmise:
► The AU gov't signed a lease deal for control of the northernmost port in Australia, Darwin, to a Chinese company for a duration of 99 years (ummm... wut?!)
► They did thus before even reading the company's website (*facepalms*) and despite the concerns over so-called "privately owned" Chinese companies actually being fronts for state backed and controlled organisations.
► The website in question was later investigated, translated (from Mandarin ideograms to comprehensible language) by analysts and - lo and behold! - found to in fact be a[nother] front for the Chinese politburo!
► Experts are now firm in their belief that China are buying their way to Asian hegemony, starting with the East China Sea, which they plan to control from south to north, starting at the north of Australia.
► This is also designed to drive a wedge between Australia and the West -- specifically, its close ally, the U.S., in order to break the nation away from its historical roots and closer towards China.
► Needless to say, everything that China do or say - from economic outlook numbers, to their business intentions - are all either flat out lies or veiled in geopolitical, military stratagem and subterfuge.

So, ATS... Is it time for the for more U.S. marines to make their way to the north of Australia? A few more Spratley islands fly-bys? Or perhaps we can skip the sabre rattling and go straight for a land invasion of the Sino mainland...?

a reply to: TheInhumanCentipede

Australia is at a crossroads.

This is no time to be playing both sides of the fence.

a reply to: TheInhumanCentipede
It's possible that the Australian government knows exactly what it's doing, and thinks that building up closer relations with China would be a good thing.

Britain has been carefully building up China contacts in recent years. This is primarily about being a nation of shopkeepers interested in one of the largest markets of the world. But it makes sense also because Russia is the power that offers the most obvious potential threat to Europe, and China lies on the other side of Russia.
Nixon was thinking the same way when he made his own visit. The U.S. and China had "a common enemy" (as one of his generals tactlessly told the Chinese).

Now where is the most plausible near threat to Australia? Is it not Indonesia? I can see how Australian strategic thinking might see value in building connections with another power on the other side of Indonesia.

As for affecting relations with the U.S., the U.S. might do well to consider reviving Nixon's approach to the question. There is now a "common enemy" not only in a resurgent Russia, but also in the threats of radical Islam.

China is buying ports all over the world!
China consumes 60% of the world’s iron ore and 40% of the copper, They’re buying up the people who are supplying them.
In U.S. alone they've spend billions buying properties and businesses, same goes for Europe.
Nothing to worry, I guess, they just buy the whole Earth little by little.

a reply to: TheInhumanCentipede
Do really think the USA with its naval base and Pine Gap radar facility would allow this if it was not a security problem. Most people don't know just how big the USA military presence is in Australia's north.

Expletive removed full stop hey let's all go to China and work and build and buy land over there. Oh bloody hell we can't buy or do anything over there because we are not Chinese. Next paragraph unfortunately these expletive are mercury and lead affected. They have short term memory issues. I wouldn't trust my left nut on competent skilled people who are contaminated full stop

So the Aussie's signed a deal with China to have an economic (not military) port in Aussie for 99 years.

The big deal is?

Did anyone see the tender responses for the 50 billion submarine contract? Absolutely hilarious, some of these tendering were trying to impress us with 1950 technology.

a reply to: Vector99

It doesn't mean much, because they forget what they agreed to.

Former Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd - a man fluent in Mandarin Chinese and therefore likely au fait with their culture (at least, more than many of current Western politicians seem to be) - once said the Chinese are "rat f**kers" and that they were "trying to rat-f**k us [Australia]".

Granted, the sauce bottle shaking Kevvy was know for his outbursts -- easily frustrated by those he deemed a tad too 'slow' for his liking. But, if a guy whose spent presumably years of his life studying Chinese (*it takes on average 4 years of intensive study for a non Chinese adult) and presumably familiarising himself with their culture, surely such comments should be taken as a red flag regarding to how one (i.e., the West) should be dealing with these people... no?

I believe the biggest problem with the West's approach to China is that 'we' view them through a Western prism. Doing so will invariably lead to misunderstanding The Middle Kingdom. For they're not the same as us, their motivations are different, as are their goals.

I saw a documentary on China once where an ex-pat Westerner who ran a business over there made note of how when China was poor, people walked around with pants that were far too big for their emaciated bodies. But instead of throwing the clothes away and finding more fitting attire, they instead just adjusted their belts tighter; sometimes even wrapping them around their waists twice!

Now, the metaphor he saw here was this: the Chinese always knew that they would 'ascend' to what they believe was their rightful position on the global stage - at the top? - and so there was no need for new pants -- the banquet to engorge on was only around the corner.

Well... dinner is now served!

a reply to: TheInhumanCentipede

I wish I could give you 10 applauses for that reply.

a reply to: TheInhumanCentipede


This is further evidence that Australian govts loyalty lies elsewhere other than Australia. Nothing like this should be able to be done without the say so of the Australian people through a referendum, despite any claim they may make about long term economic ties, trade etc etc.

If Australia was run by we the people, we would require our govts to hold referendums on all major issues. We would establish criteria for the holding of referendums under which nothing can be law until it’s passed through a referendum.

For example; no international agreement binding Australia could be signed unless it passed a referendum.

No defense personal could be placed in harms until the decision had been passed by only real upper house there is, we the people via a referendum.

I’m sure there are other criteria that Australians could agree on through a plebiscite.

For sure, referendums are expensive and take time but in this day and age there must be a way of making it quick, easy and uncorruptible. If we are to have democracy, there are some responsibilities we must live up to. One of this is to participate in the process and pay the cost.

We should never accept that we cannot have referendums or democracy because the country cannot afford it.

All laws passed through referendums would have a sunset clause in it so the decision can be undone after we the people, have had some experience with the impacts of the decision.

Demand more and more referundems.

originally posted by: Dr1Akula
Nothing to worry, I guess, they just buy the whole Earth little by little.

I think, that some 70% or more of all ship traffic in these Oceans, go to China. So, China should in fact step the game up and use it's own fleet to secure it's own.

Besides, I'd rather have the Chinese than Mr. Abdullah and his big balls :-)

originally posted by: Azureblue
This is further evidence that Australian govts loyalty lies elsewhere other than Australia. Nothing like this should be able to be done without the say so of the Australian people through a referendum, despite any claim they may make about long term economic ties, trade etc etc.

If Australia was run by we the people, we would require our govts to hold referendums on all major issues. [...]

QFT.

Same can be said for the TPP (' Treacherous Pernicious Plague') or the free trade deal with China itself -- internationally binding documents, signed in total secrecy, without any public consultation, across governments, over a period of years, with the only vestiges of information coming via "enemies of the state", like Assange and Snowden.
(Who, exactly, are our enemies today...??)

Be it the dubious deals being forged with equally dubious (and dangerous!) parties; the incongruous, seemingly orchestrated rise of primordial barbarian fundamentalist groups; billion-dollar corporations welshing every financial responsibility their lawyers can manipulate for them; or the absurd, unabated influx of refugees into Western nations, certain to foment civil malasie in the coming years -- even the most rationally-minded people must ask themselves: Just what exactly is going on around here?!

Has this environment of deception always existed; only now being exposed due to the emancipation and expedition of information through the agency of the Internet? Or is this some new phenomenon of blatant, in-your-face, nihilist behaviour the TPTB have adopted; perhaps in the knowledge that 'the end' is nigh and there's little need for subtlety any longer...?

a reply to: TheInhumanCentipede

At least they're paying for the lease prior to invasion -

originally posted by: Dr1Akula
China is buying ports all over the world!
China consumes 60% of the world’s iron ore and 40% of the copper, They’re buying up the people who are supplying them.
In U.S. alone they've spend billions buying properties and businesses, same goes for Europe.
Nothing to worry, I guess, they just buy the whole Earth little by little.

Japanese did the same. Until inflation caught up with them. They made billions from exports and had more money than they could spend, so they bought up everything. Then inflation caught up with them, as everyone in the supply chain wanted their cut of the profits. They then had to sell everything at bargain basement prices.

originally posted by: TheConstruKctionofLight
a reply to: TheInhumanCentipede

At least they're paying for the lease prior to invasion -

Like the russians did in Crimea lol!!

I swear. these people are right dumb to think that a chinese company ISNT CONNECTED TO THE PRC.

Many Chinese companies were once ran by the Chinese military. This caused big problems with corruption with officers more interested in making money than providing proper services to the PLA. So China cracked down and ended this practice. So what happened was retired Chinese officers bought up the companies and began making deals with current officers in the PLA. Pretty much they work together to rip off the military and make lots of money with the company. Then the retired officers running the company retire again rich and the officers they workered with retire from the military and take over the company and so the cycle continues. China has tried to stop this, even executing people but, the practice is just to wide spread. So no doubt this company has PLA ties but, their is nothing nefarious about it. Those ties do more harm to China than anybody else. And it is a practice that will require a large scale purge of China's officer corps to ever solve. And that might bring a reaction from the Chinese military against the party.

It is getting funnier and funnier everyday. Just seen what the Germans had to offer with respect to the 50 billion dollar sub tender full stop I'm thinking that we should keep it in Australia because so far we have better innovative technology.

originally posted by: MrSpad
no doubt this company has PLA ties but, their is nothing nefarious about it. Those ties do more harm to China than anybody else.

The AU defence department seem to think otherwise... belatedly.