Canberra: Leaked documents revealed that a Chinese company intends to construct a new city on the Island of Daru in Papua New Guinea - just 200 km north of Australia's Cape York. The plans were submitted to the PNG government in April last year and, if approved, could include a major sea port, an industrial zone as well as a commercial business precinct.
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has described the Chinese company's $39 billion plan as 'speculative' and said he maintained a close relationship with PNG prime minister James Marape, The Australian reported. 'We regularly discuss the various pressures in our region, and I think we're very much on the same page about those issues,' he said. Home affairs minister Peter Dutton said the government was keen to discuss the proposal with the PNG government. 'So we will look at it closely, but Australia will always act in our best interests and we will seek to support our neighbours.'
It comes after the Fujian Zhonghong Fishery Company, which is controlled by the Chinese government, recently inked an MoU with the PNG government to build a $204 million fishery complex in Daru - an area of PNG which has no commercial fisheries.
Under the proposal for New Daru City, the potential deal would be 'predicted on an agreed Sovereign Guarantee based on a long-term BOT [Build Operate Transfer] contract'. This means the Communist Party-backed firm would have total ownership of the venture for a designated period of time yet to be determined. Over the past year Australia has become the target of an increasingly aggressive and belligerent Beijing.
China imposed a litany of unofficial bans and arbitrary tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Australia exports after Canberra called for an inquiry into the origin of the coronvirus pandemic - and the subsequent cover-ups which followed. Australia is now preparing to take legal action against China at a World Trade Organisation tribunal, but the process to have the tariffs removed could take several years.
As Beijing now looks to set up a mega city in Australia's backyard with the diplomatic relationship continuing to deteriorate, it's feared China could have an ulterior motives and a secret plan to turn the area into a naval base. Under the proposal for New Daru City, the Communist Party-backed firm would have total ownership of the venture for a designated period of time.
Michael Shoebridge, the national security program director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's said China and it's corporate proxies often approach provincial governments to try and get controversial infrastructure projects off the ground - as they are less security conscious than national administrations. 'The big message is really that Australian policymakers and leadership cannot be complacent in any way about Chinese presence and intent in PNG,' he told The Australian.
