China Lease of Australian Port Under Fresh Scrutiny

A rental agreement between an Australian port and a Chinese company is under fresh scrutiny, as the newly-elected Australian labor party government raises concerns that the lease could pose national security threats. U.S. Marines use that port to transport equipment and aircraft for military trainings. Many of those transports now happen in the presence of Chinese workers since Beijing is the temporary owner of the port. Worth noting, U.S. trainings mainly target Beijing's threat in that region. It all started in 2015, when officials from Australia's northern territory signed a 99-year lease to rent out a commercial port there to a Chinese company called Landbridge. The port is called the Darwin Port.