Advertisement
Opinion | Australia-Papua New Guinea deal is not just about China
- The security agreement signed by Canberra and Port Moresby has triggered commentary that it was a reaction to China’s rise
- If China fears have sparked this stepped-up security cooperation between two neighbours, those fears have had a net positive effect
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
1
The prime ministers of Australia and Papua New Guinea signed a historic security agreement in Canberra on December 7 which has received the usual commentary that it’s “all about China”.
Advertisement
To be sure, Australia has been slow to formally extend such a security partnership to its former colony, and perhaps China’s rise has roused it from its slumber, but cooperation between these two neighbours is simply good sense.
While Australian and other geopolitical analysts typically depict the world as a zero-sum chessboard and have in recent years evoked fears of Chinese military bases in the South Pacific, nothing to confirm such scares has emerged to date. China nevertheless is expanding policing cooperation with the Pacific. This appears to be in response to security risks faced by its companies, but makes Australia nervous.
Fears of geopolitical competition appear to have jolted Australia into finally taking its Pacific neighbours more seriously. After years of previous governments ignoring Pacific pleas to address the region’s real security challenges, including climate change and internal law and order problems, the Albanese government has begun investing in substantive partnerships across the region.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and other senior officials have been engaged in shuttle diplomacy to repair regional relationships. Australia recently struck a groundbreaking agreement on security as well as “human mobility with dignity” for the climate change-threatened citizens of the small island Tuvalu.
Advertisement
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the big one. It may be among the poorest nations in the world, but it is the largest Pacific island country, resource-rich and strategically important to Australia. Its population is growing rapidly, and may surpass Australia’s by mid-century.
Advertisement