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Agence France-Presse

Australia clinched a security deal with Papua New Guinea on Thursday, bolstering ties to a key Pacific neighbour that has been courted persistently by China.
Canberra pushed for a more substantive treaty earlier this year, but Papua New Guinea balked because leaders feared it undermined the country’s “sovereign rights”.
The salvaged agreement focuses on Papua New Guinea’s domestic security, as stretched police struggle to stamp out arms trafficking, drug smuggling and tribal violence.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said the deal covered a “broad spectrum of security”, including policing and support for the country’s judiciary system.
Australian Premier Anthony Albanese said it would promote “regional stability” in the Pacific.
Papua New Guinea granted the United States “unimpeded” access to key naval bases, ports and airfields under a deal hammered out in May this year.
Build now, pay later? Debt-ridden Fiji turns to China for port upgrades
But there was a swift political backlash, with opponents concerned the former British colony was yielding too much influence to foreign powers.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Euan Graham said the backlash had ultimately damaged Canberra’s efforts.
“That’s why it has taken until now, because of the political capital Marape used on the American agreement,” he said.
“He couldn’t do a deal with Australia at the same time.”
Marape and Albanese said earlier this year that they were putting the finishing touches on a major bilateral security treaty.
But that agreement – which they had hoped to sign in June – started unravelling in the closing stages of negotiations.
By July, Marape was voicing concerns that unspecified clauses encroached on his country’s “sovereign rights”.


Thursday’s revised agreement includes more resources for Papua New Guinea’s police, help for the country’s judges, and measures to tackle gender-based violence.
It also covers climate change, cybersecurity and disaster relief.
Perched less than 200km (125 miles) from Australia’s northernmost border, Papua New Guinea is the largest and most populous state in Melanesia.
It is blessed with vast deposits of gas, gold, and minerals – and peers over some of the Pacific region’s busiest shipping lanes.
“Because of its size, population, and geography it’s always going to be a logical anchor point for a Pacific policy,” said Graham.
The United States and ally Australia have been on a diplomatic blitz to shore up their relationships in the South Pacific.
They were jolted into action after Solomon Islands – Papua New Guinea’s eastern neighbour – signed a secretive security pact with Beijing in April 2022.
Australia-Tuvalu treaty sparks fears of population drain, threat to sovereignty
Marape stressed on Thursday that his country was not picking sides.
“Our major foreign policy remains friends to all and enemies to none. It’s never at the expense of relationships elsewhere.”
China has been on its own Papua New Guinea charm offensive, pouring money into trade, real estate and infrastructure projects.
But Graham said that, so far, it had struggled to convert these links into anything of major military significance.
“China’s economic links to Papua New Guinea’s elite are now very deep, that’s not going to disappear overnight,” he said.
“But in defence terms, the penetration that China has made in Papua New Guinea is fairly shallow.
“They have been casting around for ports and airfield investments, but I think those are still quite speculative.”


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Australia

Australia seals Papua New Guinea security deal, ups battle for influence with China in the Pacific

An aerial view of Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby. Photo: AFP

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape (right) shakes hands with Australia’s Anthony Albanese in Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday. Photo: AFP


Fiji woos China for upgrade of ‘strategically important’ ports even as debt concerns mount

(231116) -- SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 16, 2023 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka in San Francisco, the United States, Nov. 16, 2023. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

Locals sit on a wall situated on the foreshore of the harbour in the Fiji capital of Suva. Fiji’s deep water port access appeals to Beijing as the contest for influence across the Pacific heats up. Photo: Reuters

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka in San Francisco, where the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Apec summit. Photo: Xinhua

The harbour and pier area at Fiji’s port of Lautoka on the west coast of the main island Viti Levu are often busy with container ships and cruise ships. Photo: Shutterstock 

Australia-Tuvalu treaty sparks migration fears, threat to sovereignty amid climate battle

High tide floods a “borrow pit” dug by US forces during World War II in order to build the airstrip in Funafuti Atoll. File photo: AFP

An aerial view of the Funafuti Atoll. Tuvalu is on the front lines of the battle against climate change and has urged nations to help stop its islands from being submerged by rising sea levels. Photo: Kalinga Seneviratne

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) and Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Kausea shake hands on One Foot Island during the Pacific Islands Forum in Aitutaki, Cook Islands, on November 9. Photo: AP

Atoll Road on the northern end of Funafuti Atoll on the main Tuvalu island. Photo: Kalinga Seneviratne

A mother taking her children to school in Tuvalu. Photo: Kalinga Seneviratne

Tuvalu’s climate deal with Australia comes with a ‘trade-off’ as China deepens Pacific ties

A person rides past a puddle of water in Funafuti, Tuvalu. Photo: AAP via Reuters

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Tuvalu Prime Minister sign a compact between the two nations in Rarotonga on November 9. Photo: dpa

High tide floods a “borrow pit” dug by US forces during World War II in order to build the airstrip in Funafuti Atoll in February 2004. File photo: AFP

A man riding a motorbike in a puddle of water in Funafuti, Tuvalu, in August 2019. Australia’s deal with Tuvalu will include helping the island with a reclamation project to increase Tuvalu’s land. Photo: AAP Image via Reuters

With China’s help, Fiji eyes rice self-sufficiency within 20 years

A Fijian farmer tries out a high-efficiency rice seed planter at a demonstration site, under the supervision of Chinese team leader Chen Huazao. Photo: Ma Tengfei

Fijians try out a high-efficiency rice seed planter at a demonstration site, under the supervision of Chinese team leader Chen Huazao. Photo: Han Hui

Residents drinking kava at a bar in Suva, Fiji. In the last two decades, there has been a significant change in the eating habits of indigenous Fijians, largely due to the proliferation of Asian food outlets which have popularised rice. Photo: AFP

Chinese experts on Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second-largest island, teach local people how to transplant rice. Photo: Han Hui

Dry land farmer Parvin Kumar from Rakiraki. Photo: Kalinga Seneviratne

News

Asia

Australasia

The pact includes more resources for Papua New Guinea’s police, cybersecurity and disaster relief
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the agreement would promote ‘regional stability’ in the Pacific where Beijing has pumped money into several projects


The pact includes more resources for Papua New Guinea’s police, cybersecurity and disaster relief.


China-Australia relations

Pacific nations

Anthony Albanese

Papua New Guinea

Australia seals Papua New Guinea security deal, ups battle for influence with China in the Pacific

The pact includes more resources for Papua New Guinea’s police, cybersecurity and disaster relief Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the agreement would promote ‘regional stability’ in the Pacific where Beijing has pumped money into several projects

The pact includes more resources for Papua New Guinea’s police, cybersecurity and disaster relief

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the agreement would promote ‘regional stability’ in the Pacific where Beijing has pumped money into several projects