Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is confronting a fresh diplomatic dilemma with China: How to fulfill a pledge to regain control of a strategic port without jeopardizing improved relations with his country’s largest trading partner.
Ahead of an election earlier this month, Albanese promised to return to Australian control the Port of Darwin from Chinese company Landbridge Group. It was awarded a 99-year lease in 2015 by the Northern Territory government in a move that sparked criticism from an array of politicians in Australia and in the U.S., which uses a nearby military training facility.
China is Australia’s biggest trading partner by far and previously expressed anger over pressure from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump concerning the Panama Canal, which resulted in a potential sale by a Hong Kong-based conglomerate of its two Panama port operations — a deal Beijing has said it will review.
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