The Papua New Guinea cabinet approved a bilateral defense treaty with its nearby neighbor, Australia, racing the way for the leaders of both nations to sign a Historical Agreement that United States allies expect Chinese influence on the region.
The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marapeconfirmed Thursday that the treaty had been formally approved by its cabinet.
“Australia only has another Mutual Defense Treaty of this type and, at our request, Papua New Guinea will sign it,” Marape said in a statement. The other Australian Alliance Pact is the Anzus Treaty, signed in 1951 with the United States and New Zealand.
“This reflects the depth of trust, history and the future shared between our two nations,” Marape added.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he and Marape would sign the treaty soon.
“Our two nations are the closest neighbors and the closest friends, and this treaty will raise our relationship to a formal alliance,” Albanese said in a statement.
Australia was the colonial master of Papua New Guinea until the island in development became independent in 1975. Australia, with its population of 28 million, and Papua New Guinea, with an estimated population of approximately 10 million, are the most populated nations in the South Pacific.
In recent years, the United States and Australia have increased their military ties with Papua New Guinea, a country considered a strategically important partner to counteract China’s growing influence on the Pacific.
The new covenant between Australia and Papua New Guinea would greatly increase the integration of military equipment and personnel.
Marape and Albanese hoped to sign the pact in a ceremony in Puerto Moresby on September 17. But a scheduled cabinet meeting two days before to support the agreement was never held.
Instead, Marape and Albanese signed a joint statement supporting the fundamental principles of the treaty.
The treaty would recognize that “an armed attack against Australia or Papua New Guinea would be a danger to the peace and security of both countries,” says the statement.
It would also allow, for the first time, that Citizens of Papua New Guinea served in the Australian Defense Force, which could cover the prolonged shortage of recruitment in Australia. Neoguineanos papús could use their service as a way to obtain Australian citizenship.
China’s Embassy in Puerto Moresby criticized the joint declaration of leaderssaying that a bilateral treaty of this type “should not be of an exclusive nature, nor should it restrict or prevent a sovereign country from cooperating with a third party for any reason.”
“It should also refrain from attacking third parties or undermine their legitimate rights and interests,” the embassy published on social networks.
It is a Balance act for Papua New Guineawhich also seeks closer economic cooperation with China.
Oliver Nobetau, project director of the Australia-Papúa New Guinea Network at the Lowy Institute International Policy Studies Center, based in Sidney, said that in Papua New Guinea there was Concern that a closest defense relationship with Australia could damage its economic relationship with China.
“The Government of Papua New Guinea, especially James Marape, has clearly defined how they foresee the future of bilateral relations: now, in terms of security, aligning with the traditional western allies of Australia. And, definitely, in the economic and commercial sphere, strengthening that relationship with China,” Nobetau told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Australia has intensified its efforts to strengthen relations with the island nations of the region since 2022, when Beijing reached a security agreement with the Solomon Islands that raised the possibility of establishing a Chinese naval base in the South Pacific.
Three island nations of the Pacific have changed their loyalty from Taiwan to Beijing since 2019, as China’s influence has grown. The United States and its allies are particularly concerned about China’s growing influence on security through police training in Fiyi, Kiribati, Samoa, the Solomon and Vanuatu Islands.
(With AP information)
