National Security Questions Answered The prime minister answered questions on the CCP’s naval circumnavigation of Australia earlier this year. “President Xi Jinping said that China engaged in exercises just as Australia engages in exercises … [and] I said what I said at the time: it was within international law, there was no breach of international law by China, but that we were concerned about the notice and the ways that it happened, including the live fire exercises,” the prime minister said. Asked about the CCP’s strategic or military plans for Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that Xi views as a renegade province, Albanese answered that he reaffirmed Australia’s position of support for the status quo. “We put forward Australia’s position or idea, which is that we want peace and security in the region, that that is in the interests of both Australia and in the interests of China,” he said. Pressed about the fact that neither Xi nor Albanese raised the issue of Port of Darwin, which was leased to a Chinese company for 99 years, and where the prime minister recently said he wanted to return to Australian hands, the prime minister said he didn’t need to. “I’ve had the same position for a decade.”