diff --git a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/BatchSpannerRead.java b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/BatchSpannerRead.java
index 810f7ce8aaae..2244598905b2 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/BatchSpannerRead.java
+++ b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/BatchSpannerRead.java
@@ -195,6 +195,8 @@ public void setup() throws Exception {
       spannerAccessor = SpannerAccessor.getOrCreate(config);
       projectId =
           this.config.getProjectId() == null
+                  || this.config.getProjectId().get() == null
+                  || this.config.getProjectId().get().isEmpty()
               ? SpannerOptions.getDefaultProjectId()
               : this.config.getProjectId().get();
     }
diff --git a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/SpannerIO.java b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/SpannerIO.java
index 2b76bb0db5b6..dee1c8020a75 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/SpannerIO.java
+++ b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/SpannerIO.java
@@ -1975,6 +1975,8 @@ public void setup() {
 
       projectId =
           this.spannerConfig.getProjectId() == null
+                  || this.spannerConfig.getProjectId().get() == null
+                  || this.spannerConfig.getProjectId().get().isEmpty()
               ? SpannerOptions.getDefaultProjectId()
               : this.spannerConfig.getProjectId().get();
     }
diff --git a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/SpannerIOReadTest.java b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/SpannerIOReadTest.java
index 48f7fed7feee..d6af52232ba3 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/SpannerIOReadTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/SpannerIOReadTest.java
@@ -208,6 +208,16 @@ public void runReadTestWithDefaultProject() throws Exception {
             .withServiceFactory(serviceFactory));
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void runReadTestWithNullProject() throws Exception {
+    runReadTest(
+        SpannerConfig.create()
+            .withProjectId((String) null)
+            .withInstanceId("123")
+            .withDatabaseId("aaa")
+            .withServiceFactory(serviceFactory));
+  }
+
   private void runReadTest(SpannerConfig spannerConfig) throws Exception {
     Timestamp timestamp = Timestamp.ofTimeMicroseconds(12345);
     TimestampBound timestampBound = TimestampBound.ofReadTimestamp(timestamp);
diff --git a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/SpannerIOWriteTest.java b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/SpannerIOWriteTest.java
index 0bb7c66e382f..32509d2eb872 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/SpannerIOWriteTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/spanner/SpannerIOWriteTest.java
@@ -323,6 +323,22 @@ public void singleMutationPipelineNoProjectId() throws Exception {
     verifyBatches(batch(m(2L)));
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void singleMutationPipelineNullProjectId() throws Exception {
+    Mutation mutation = m(2L);
+    PCollection<Mutation> mutations = pipeline.apply(Create.of(mutation));
+
+    mutations.apply(
+        SpannerIO.write()
+            .withProjectId((String) null)
+            .withInstanceId("test-instance")
+            .withDatabaseId("test-database")
+            .withServiceFactory(serviceFactory));
+    pipeline.run();
+
+    verifyBatches(batch(m(2L)));
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void singleMutationGroupPipeline() throws Exception {
     PCollection<MutationGroup> mutations =