Latest news with #Chinese-state
West Australian
4 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Anthony Albanese defends Darwin Port stance from Great Wall of China, Australian businesses won't be iced out
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dismissed suggestions Australian businesses could be iced out of the Chinese market over the Government's decision to put the strategic port of Darwin back into Australia's hands. Chinese objections to Labor's election promise to overturn the awarding of a 99-year lease of the port to the Beijing-owned Landbridge group have loomed over Mr Albanese's red carpet reception in China this week, with state media repeatedly highlighting the controversy. Mr Albanese on Wednesday confirmed that the sale of the port had not been raised directly with him in talks with Premier Li Qiang or Chinese President Xi Jinping, who offered a rare lunch invitation to the Prime Minister and fiancee Jodie Haydon. Mr Li continued the charm offensive at a roundtable of Chinese and Australian business leaders in the imposing Great Hall of the People on Tuesday but alluded to the point of contention by urging Australia to create a 'non-discriminatory business environment.' 'We hope that the Australian side will treat Chinese enterprises visiting Australia fairly and properly solve the problems encountered by enterprises in market access, investment review, and other aspects,' Mr Li said. The Global Times, a state-run media outlet, was more direct. 'At present, there are specific issues between China and Australia that need to be discussed, such as the lease of Darwin Port and the expansion of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement,' it said. 'There are also practical obstacles, especially the tendencies toward 'pan-politicisation' and 'pan-securitisation,' as well as interference from third parties,' it continued in an otherwise glowing account of Mr Albanese's trip so far. Asked during a press conference on the Great Wall of China on Wednesday if he was prepared for Australia to be put back into the deep freeze on the issue, Mr Albanese responded with a straight, 'the answer is no.' The Prime Minister's six-day trip has been centred on repairing business and trade ties after a diplomatic spat under the Morrison government triggered a series of damaging import bans on key commodities, which have since been lifted. Labor has stressed, however, that it will not budge over the cancelling of the Landbridge lease for national security reasons. Mr Albanese told reporters that this was a long held position 'shouldn't come as any surprise.' However, Chinese officials have long protested over changes made to the Foreign Investment Review Board under the previous Government after the port lease was awarded to a Chinese-state owned operator by the Northern Territory authorities. That decision was viewed by many at the time, including in Washington, as a strategic mistake that compromised national security. The Government has rejected Beijing's suggestions that Chinese companies are now being unfairly targeted by rules requiring greater scrutiny in sensitive investment areas. Ahead of Mr Albanese's trip, the Government indicated it would not be prepared to ease restrictions or to accede to Chinese requests for greater cooperation on artificial intelligence capabilities. 'We have a case by case issue when it comes to foreign investment,' said Mr Albanese. 'It is viewed not on the basis of any one country, but on the basis of an objective assessment of our national interest.' He added, 'One of the things that I emphasise - I say the same thing in Beijing as I say in Bankstown, which is that the Australian Government supports free and fair trade. It's in the interests of the world to have free and fair trade, and we'll continue to engage that way.' The Prime Minister also revealed Communist Party Chairman Zhao Leji had agreed to an invitation to lead a National People's Congress delegation to Australia. 'It is very clear that it is in our national interest for us to have a positive relationship with China, where there are differences, to talk about them, but not be defined by them,' he said.
Telegraph
02-04-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
China accused of stealing British aircraft design
Solent-based Britten-Norman is now investigating the 'striking' similarities to see whether China has infringed its intellectual property rights over the Islander design. Beijing's embassy in London has denied that either the design or the aircraft itself was stolen. Alicia Kearns, the shadow national security minister, told The Telegraph: 'We outright condemn the shameless theft of the iconic British Islander aircraft design by a Chinese-state company, and the industrialised nature of intellectual property theft by the Chinese Communist Party. 'Global trade relies on respect for the rule of law. China's economic model is based on intellectual property theft, currency manipulation, state subsidy and the dumping of artificially cheap products to suffocate industries in the UK and those of allied economies.' China's threat to Western prosperity has been confronted by British officials, albeit sluggishly. In July 2022, the heads of the UK and US security services made an unprecedented joint public appearance to warn of the threat from Beijing. MI5 chief Ken McCallum said at the time that his service had more than doubled its work against Chinese activity in the last three years and would be doubling it again. 'Take the threat from China seriously' Ms Kearns added: 'The Labour Party claims to be the party of British workers. If this claim has any validity, they would do well to start taking the threat from China seriously, call out and act on this theft, and build on the protections we put in place across business and academia to stop the theft of British designs and products – including putting China on the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme (FIRS), which the Government failed to do again only yesterday.' Labour has so far ignored calls to place China on the top level of the Government's new FIRS. Tuesday saw Russia added to the scheme, joining the likes of Iran, but so far ministers have failed to place China on the 'enhanced' tier. China's apparent targeting of the Islander aircraft represents a swipe at one of the crown jewels of the British aerospace industry. Marketed as 'the world's most versatile aircraft', the Islander design was first drawn up in 1965 after Britten-Norman spotted a niche in the market for a light passenger and cargo transport aircraft. It has been in continuous production for more than half a century, being bought by airlines and governments alike in more than 50 countries. 'We are investigating' A spokesman for the British aircraft manufacturer said: 'Britten-Norman is aware of a UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] currently undergoing testing that bears a striking resemblance to our BN-2T Islander aircraft, including unique design elements specific to our product. 'The Islander is a globally renowned, iconic airframe and this UAV does not have our endorsement. 'We have already developed and produced our own cargo variant and we are actively exploring autonomous capabilities. 'The situation raises concerns regarding potential misuse of our intellectual property, which we are investigating to determine if any rights have been violated and whether further action is required to protect the Islander's iconic design.' 'No solid evidence' Kai Yan, a Chinese embassy spokesman, claimed there was no 'solid evidence' that Yi-Tong UAV System Co Ltd had stolen Britten-Norman's intellectual property or had tried to pass off a genuine Islander as its own product. 'The Chinese government is committed to protecting intellectual property rights. We are firmly against any allegations of IP infringement that are not based on solid evidence,' said Yan. 'Technological innovation in China has come a long way, a result of both the hard work of Chinese scientists and businesses and international collaboration. 'China's scientific and technological advancement cannot be held back by some groundless and unfair allegations.'
