If China ends up buying it, they will hear and see everything
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National security experts in Canberra and Washington are alarmed that China could be in the box seat to beat private equity firms to acquire telecommunications assets in the Pacific that would enable Beijing to spy on Australia s closest geographical neighbours.
The Morrison government is under pressure to provide financial support to Western private bidders, after debt-laden Digicel said it had received unsolicited approaches for its Pacific operations that include Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Samoa.
As well as Chinese entities circling Digicel s mobile phone networks, sources said Australian private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners had held discussions with Digicel s representatives before Christmas for the strategically sensitive infrastructure.
Australia can’t, and shouldn’t, compete directly with China on the funding of hard infrastructure.
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December 23, 2020
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Looking back on 2016, Australian academic Tim Winter observed that “it seemed as though the world was united by infrastructure, or to be more precise, its possibilities for future making.”
By 2017, however, the Australian government’s Foreign Policy White Paper was pointing out that rather than knitting the world together, the infrastructure financing race would begin to destabilize the Indo-Pacific. It argued that the region was already beginning to see “increased competition over regional economic integration, including in the financing of infrastructure projects.”
Government mulls funding telco bid to block China
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The federal government is considering offering financial support to local bidders circling the Pacific operations of a telecommunications business Digicel to block Chinese companies acquiring the politically sensitive assets.
Digicel, the largest mobile business in the western Pacific, owned by Irish billionaire Denis OâBrien, is being crawled over by buyers who see an opportunity to buy the key infrastructure, which is suffering from high debt levels and weak earnings because of the pandemic.
The Bermuda-based company is a dominant mobile phone network operator in 33 countries including Australiaâs closest geographical neighbour, Papua New Guinea, as well as Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Samoa.
China-Funded PNG Fishery Project Brings New Challenges for Australia
With the latest MoU, Papua New Guinea continues to be at the center of a tug-of-war between China and Australia.
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December 12, 2020
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The announcement of a $204 million fish processing plant in Papua New Guinea (PNG) located close to Australia’s mainland raises concerns over both resource depletion and security risks.
The project has come to light following the signing of a detail-thin memorandum of understanding (MoU) between China’s Fujian Zhonghong Fishery Company and the PNG government.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne told the Senate on Thursday that the government had raised its concerns with PNG. She noted that Australian Border Force vessels would be closely monitoring the region and enforcing the agreed fishing standards.