{"id":257911,"date":"2026-01-29T16:31:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T16:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/257911\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T16:31:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T16:31:18","slug":"chinas-ambassador-warns-albanese-reclaiming-port-of-darwin-will-force-beijing-to-intervene-foreign-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/257911\/","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s ambassador warns Albanese reclaiming Port of Darwin will force Beijing to intervene | Foreign investment"},"content":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s ambassador to Australia says plans by the Albanese government to remove the Port of Darwin<\/a> from Chinese ownership will put at risk future trade growth and force an intervention by Beijing.<\/p>\n

Ambassador Xiao Qian hit out at Labor\u2019s policy to force the Chinese-owned company Landbridge to sell its 99-year lease on the port, sparked by pre-election national security concerns from both Labor and the Coalition.<\/p>\n

The government is yet to announce a timeline for the forced sale.<\/p>\n

When Landbridge, owned by the Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, first bought the port in 2015, it did not require federal approval, but the sale quickly sparked complaints from national security agencies and even the then US president, Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

Conducting a press conference on Wednesday, Xiao said Canberra and Beijing, as well as the company\u2019s owners, had discussed the port in the months since the 2025 election.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last 10 years, Landbridge has invested a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cStarting from last year, the Darwin<\/a> port has stopped losing money and started to make money.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly we hear the government of Australia wants to take it back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re losing money, you lease it to foreign country company, and when it has started making money, you want to take it back. That\u2019s not a way to do business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

Landbridge paid $506m to secure a 99-year controlling lease over the port. Last financial year, the company recorded a $9.6m profit, up from a $37m loss the previous year.<\/p>\n

Speaking at China\u2019s embassy in Canberra, Xiao said it was up to the company to decide its ongoing role in the port, but warned \u201cthe Chinese government has an obligation to protect the interest legitimate interests of Chinese companies overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything happens, like the port [being taken] back by force or forceful measures, then we have an obligation to take measure to protect the Chinese company\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould Landbridge be forced to leave that port, I think it might also affect the substantive investment, cooperation and trade between Chinese companies and that part of Australia. That is not in the interest of Australia either.\u201d<\/p>\n

China is Australia\u2019s largest two-way trading partner, accounting for 24% of all goods and services trade last financial year, worth $309bn.<\/p>\n

Anthony Albanese announced plans for a forced sale in a hastily scheduled radio interview during the election campaign last year. The prime minister said Landbridge had not invested enough in the port\u2019s operations, even after previously ruling out moves to cancel the lease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two government reviews of the port sale, commissioned by both the Coalition and Labor, concluded there were no national security grounds to terminate the lease.<\/p>\n

The then Coalition government scrambled after the sale to give the Foreign Investment Review Board greater powers.<\/p>\n

Albanese said on Tuesday the sale was not in Australia\u2019s national interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it should be back in Australian hands. That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he said in Darwin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are commercial negotiations and those commercial negotiations are continuing. We will ensure it comes back into Australian hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xiao played down deployments of Chinese People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) navy to waters around Australia last year.<\/p>\n

Defence tracked a group of ships in December, while in February 2025 a Chinese naval task group raised concerns at the highest levels by circumnavigating Australia and conducting live-fire exercises near the country\u2019s waters.<\/p>\n

Xiao called the incident \u201ca coincidence\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just happened to be connected in that region, in that part of the world. It happened to be near Australia, but not in Australian territory, or even in the EEZ, the exclusive economic zone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has nothing to do with Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xiao has urged Canberra to prepare for dealing with a \u201creunified China\u201d, describing opposition to moves by Beijing to control Taiwan<\/a> as unacceptable. Australia supports the status quo for Taiwan and opposes any unilateral move by Beijing to control the self-governed island.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re somewhat flexible in managing some of the issues of differences between our two countries, for example, trade relations and issues in other areas,\u201d Xiao said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the question of Taiwan is not a question the region should compromise or be flexible with. There\u2019s no room for us to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"China\u2019s ambassador to Australia says plans by the Albanese government to remove the Port of Darwin from Chinese…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-257911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}