Malcolm Turnbull has defended the Northern Territory government's handling of its sale of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese firm with alleged links to the People's Liberation Army. Chinese company secures 99-year lease of Darwin port in $506m deal US president Barack Obama raised the subject of the 99-year lease during a sideline meeting with the prime minister at the recent Apec summit, after a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute suggested the lease could have been a strategic move on the part of China. The US has several thousand marines based in the northern capital city. Turnbull later shrugged off the concern as there was nothing furtive about the deal, and noted it was reported by Australian media.