Originally Posted by
sfm818
If the switch to nuclear boats is based on regional security and the threat of territorial expansion from a foreign power, why has Australia given consent for China to acquire Darwin Port on a 99-year lease? How will that affect USMC deployments to the Northern Territory. This raises the question - is the hand brake turn on defence policy being driven by Canberra or Washington. China's strategy is colonization through debt trap. In this case however, why would Australia willingly cede control of Darwin Port? Who in the long term expects the better end of that deal.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-...-risk/10755720
Both worrying and informative. Thanks for the link, sfm. Perhaps the best comment in the piece is this :-
But by leasing the commercial port in Darwin, even though it is well down the harbour, to someone who runs the risk of being a potential adversary over the next 99 years, it's the equivalent of leasing the Port to the Japanese in 1938.