Sydney (Australia), 12 (EFE) .- Australia and Papu of concerns about China’s growing influence on the Pacific.
This Security Agreement, signed in December 2023 and now enters into force, allows “tangible support to the internal security priorities of Papua New Guinea,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, at a press conference, in a press conference In Sidney with his counterpart Papu, James Marape.
Albanese also recalled that this week his government inaugurated in the city of Brisbane, Northeast of Australia, a training center to train police from the island countries of the Pacific region, which had an investment of 400 million Australian dollars ( more than 256 million dollars or 244 million euros).
The agreement, which is binding, extends bilateral security ties and establishes a rapid response mechanism to aid orders on the defense and internal security of Papua New Guinea.
It also includes delivery to the Melanesio country of a new police ship to reinforce the control of borders and maritime security, as well as support for the hiring and training of agents, forensic medicine and the protection of critical infrastructure, among other issues.
Papua, an impoverished nation of twelve million inhabitants who became independent from Australia in 1975, seeks to increase their police forces from 6,000 to 26,000 troops to maintain order in the country, also afflicted by tribal clashes and drug trafficking.
The United States and Australia, their strategic ally in Oceania, have redoubled in recent years their courtships to several island nations of the former forgotten Pacific region since China signed a security pact in April 2022 with the Solomon Islands.
Marape recalled that Australia is the preferred partner of his country “in the first instance”, although this does not prevent him from relating to other powers such as China, a country he described as “great commercial partner,” he said at the press conference.
“No one should feel offended with Papua New Guinea or Australia, even with the foreign relations of other countries. It is something we chose to do in our own immediate interest,” said Marape, who also highlighted the agreement for the entry of a papú team to The Australian Rugby League in 2028. EFE
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