In January, the Chinese Communist Party’s news organ had happy news for the Pacific island nation of Nauru following its decision to align with Beijing and ditch its diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.of a Beijing-controlled company behind an $80 million port project in Nauru, China Harbour Engineering Company, and quoted a senior official hinting that China’s largesse could extend beyond trade and investment to security.
Added to these secretly held concerns in Canberra are better known problems with the port project, which has run years over time and millions of dollars over budget. Former senior US official Charles Edel, the inaugural Australia Chair and a senior adviser at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the Chinese government’s claims that companies such as China Harbour were purely commercial should be viewed sceptically given Beijing’s strategic aims.
Keen says that Canberra’s efforts to reform the Asian Development Bank should not be aimed at “excluding China”, noting that its state-owned enterprises do both “good and bad projects” around the world, as do Australian companies. That same year, US President Joe Biden reaffirmed financial sanctions announced by his predecessor, Donald Trump, targeted at China Harbour’s majority owner, the Beijing-controlled China Communications Construction Company, for its roles as a “Chinese Communist military company”.
Blake Johnson, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said companies such as China Harbour had delivered substandard projects in the region for years.