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In the past few years, China-Australia relations have been on the right track with great difficulty, but Australia seems to have drifted a bit, and started to think about how to backtrack on the issue of Darwin Harbor.
It is reported that the Australian government will discuss the future of the Darwin harbor, which has been leased to China for 99 years, within this week. The Treasurer of the Northern Territory has even jumped in to say that the government should pay to buy back the harbor.
This is about forcing the port back from Chinese companies
The Port of Darwin was an obscure little port until 2015, when a forward-thinking Chinese company saw its potential and signed a 99-year lease with the Northern Territory government.
And that’s when the Port of Darwin sprang into life. Within a few years, the port’s facilities were revitalized, throughput soared, and it was transformed into a major energy hub for northern Australia.
But it didn’t last long, and it seems the Australian government wasn’t satisfied with the success of the partnership. Now they are talking about taking back Darwin Harbor from Chinese companies.
It is important to know that the development of Darwin Harbor in the first place was all due to the investment and operation of Chinese enterprises. Now that the port has prospered, they are thinking of taking it back, which is a bit like tearing down a bridge after it has been crossed.
Besides, the success of Darwin Harbor is not simply a matter of upgrading facilities. The addition of Chinese companies has brought new management models, market channels and development concepts, all of which are key factors in the rapid rise of Darwin Harbor.
If the Australian government really forcefully takes back the port, it will not only harm the interests of Chinese-funded enterprises, but also may interrupt the development momentum of Darwin Port.
Having said that, the Australian government’s capriciousness on the Darwin port issue actually reflects the instability of their attitude towards China.
This kind of wavering attitude, which may show goodwill at one time and flip-flop at another, will not do much good to the stable development of China-Australia relations.
Just take a look at the data, under the operation of Chinese-funded enterprises, Darwin port has achieved a leap in cargo throughput to 26.3 million tons in just a few years.
Can’t the Australian government see this obvious achievement? Of course not, but they are more interested in the United States.
So economic interests have to give way to political interests to occupy the high ground.
In the Australian government’s mind, the only way to secure the future is to stay close to the U.S. boss.
This mentality is actually not difficult to understand, after all, the United States still has enormous influence in the world. But the problem is that for the sake of this so-called ideal future, Australia seems to be willing to sacrifice its economic interests for the time being, even on such an important project as the Darwin Harbor.
Darwin Harbor is not just an economic hub for Australia, it is a strategic location. Not only is there a large number of American troops stationed here, but heavy weaponry is also deployed.
Because of this special status, Darwin Harbor has become a sensitive point in the U.S.-Australia alliance.
When a Chinese company was granted the right to operate Darwin Harbour, the United States jumped out almost immediately and assumed the position of a guardian angel.
The intervention tactics of the United States can be described as both soft and hard. On the one hand, it pressurized the Australian Government through diplomatic channels to take back the right to operate the port.
On the other hand, it did not forget to take out real money to entice it by promising to set up a strategic stockpile point in Darwin, so as to intervene under the pretext of safeguarding security.
But this set of tricks of the United States, the discerning can see, is only to stir up the cooperation between China and Australia, suppress the development of Chinese-funded enterprises overseas, the deeper purpose is to contain the rise of China.
This kind of hegemonic behavior is really uncomplimentary.
In the face of the pressure and inducement from the United States, the Australian Government is actually in a dilemma. On the one hand, they do not want to offend the United States, the big brother.
On the other hand, tearing up the contracts with Chinese enterprises means paying astronomical liquidated damages, which is undoubtedly a major blow to the Australian economy.
Of course, the Australian Government can also choose to be a rogue and neither fulfill its contractual obligations nor pay the liquidated damages.
But the consequence of doing so is likely to anger China, after all, the power of the Chinese navy is not for show.
Some netizens have suggested that if the Australian government is rogue, then the Fujian ship can show its face in the waters near Australia.
Although this is a joke, the Australian government is indeed taking a political gamble.
They are betting that the United States can bring them a better future, but I am afraid that even they do not have any idea about how good and reliable this future is.
After all, on the stage of international politics, there are no eternal enemies and no eternal friends, only eternal interests.
In this gamble, Australia seems to have forgotten an important truth: economic interests are the cornerstone of national development, and political interests are important, but if economic interests are sacrificed for political interests, then only the general public will suffer in the end.
I hope that the Australian government will wake up soon and stop sacrificing the long-term interests of its own country and its people in order to cater to the political demands of some big powers.
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