The Northern Territory's China Business Council believes that if the Darwin Port deal is reviewed, it could deter other much-needed international investors in northern Australia.

China Business Council president Daryl Guppy is meeting hundreds of high-level businesses in Shanghai this weekend, where he hopes to drum up investor support to help develop Australia's north.

But Mr Guppy said it could be challenging after the Federal Government's announcement it may review the Chinese-owned Landbridge Group's $506 million deal to operate the Darwin Port on a 99-year lease.

Mr Guppy said he would be facing questions from stakeholders about government and investor relations.

"I will be facing questions about what's blowing up here. In other words, can the word of Australian industry and governments be relied upon?" Mr Guppy said.

"That's a pretty serious question to answer.

"When you sign an agreement and you sign it in good faith, and that agreement is broken in bad faith it cast dispersions upon every future potential agreement."

Mr Guppy said Australia needed large-scale investment in the north.

"Unfortunately Australians and Australian companies and Australian funds are not prepared to take that risk on. We have to look for overseas capital. In this case it has to come from China," he said.

"Until we're prepared to support investment ourselves with our own Australian money, we're always going to rely on overseas investors.

"If we turn this down, then it casts a cloud over all future investment from China, not just into the NT, but into Australia, because it means our word cannot be trusted."

Mr Guppy also defended the process behind the deal and said it was thoroughly researched because of its sensitive nature.

He also agreed with the NT Chief Minister's criticism of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's claims that Landbridge was a commercial "front" intimately tied to the Chinese Communist Party.

"We're talking about a large-scale business that of course does business with a wide variety of people," Mr Guppy said.

"Some of those will be in relation to the military in China, in relation to private business.

"There are massive logistic supply chains involved in this.

"To single out just one aspect of a company's business and say they are therefore a creature of the People's Liberation Army is very false thinking, very xenophobic thinking."

Landbridge Group denies any links to Chinese Communist Party

The Landbridge Group has since released a statement denying the institute's claims.

"Landbridge Group is not a state-owned enterprise. It is a private company owned by the Ye Family. Mr Ye has never been in the military or the People's Liberation Army," the statement said.

Landbridge Australia managing director Mike Hughes said he believed speculation about the company's ties to the Chinese military were wrong.

Mr Hughes said the criticism appeared to be based on a misunderstanding of Chinese text and photographs on the parent company's website.

"The material referred to has been misconstrued," Mr Hughes said.

"The pictures on the website show security staff at the company's petrochemical operation who are also responsible for safety and emergency accident rescue work at the facility."