The United States and Papua New Guinea are set to sign a defense pact as Washington and Beijing vie for influence in the Pacific

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Andrew Kutan/AFP/Getty Images

Papua New Guinea Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso greets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Port Moresby on May 21, 2023.

CNN

The United States and Papua New Guinea are set to sign a new bilateral defense cooperation agreement, a move that has sparked controversy in the Pacific island nation and comes as Washington and China move scramble to exert their influence in the region.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Papua New Guinea (PNG) Prime Minister James Marape were due to sign the pact and a maritime security agreement during Blinkens’ visit to the capital Port Moresby on Sunday and Monday, the US State Department announced Thursday.

The preliminary text of the agreements has not been released by either party, but the new defense cooperation was expected to expand US access to military and other installations in PNG, strengthening Washington’s security ties in the Pacific. South.

This region, a constellation of sparsely populated island and archipelago nations and territories, along with New Zealand and Australia, is of outsized strategic importance. The Pacific Islands, for example, were the scene of decisive battles during World War II.

The region has taken on renewed importance for Washington as it seeks to bolster its relationship and presence in Asia amid growing tensions with an assertive China that has rapidly expanded its naval capabilities in recent years.

Those concerns were heightened last year after Beijing signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands and tried unsuccessfully to gain support for a broad regional communiqué on trade and security with the island nations of the Peaceful.

Blinkens’ visit to PNG comes after US President Joe Biden cut short an Asia trip last week that would have included stops in Port Moresby and Sydney, Australia, due to ongoing debt ceiling negotiations. in the country.

In a statement Saturday, PNG touted its long-awaited deal with the United States as an opportunity to advance its national defense infrastructure and capability at a time of mounting global security concerns.

Papua New Guinea has no enemies but you better be prepared. The territorial dispute is (imminent), as in the Ukraine-Russia case, the statement said.

This agreement is not about geopolitics but rather recognizes that the country needs to strengthen its defense capabilities because border disputes are inevitable in the future, he said, adding that it does not prevent the government from work with other countries, including China.

China has become an important player in the country’s economy, both as an investor and consumer of its rich natural resources.

The US and PNG militaries already have a cooperative security assistance relationship focused primarily on joint humanitarian exercises and training of PNG military personnel, according to the State Department.

The signing of the deal sparked debate in Papua New Guinea, including a lack of transparency from the government about what it entailed, while alleged leaked drafts circulated online.

The pact would require parliamentary approval and could face legal challenges, experts say.

But his signature would send an important message to the region.

PNG’s signing of a defense agreement sends a signal to the rest of the Pacific that its largest nation has chosen Western Australia and the United States as its security partner, said Maholopa Laveil, FDC Pacific Fellow at the Institute. Lowy, seconded from the University of Papua New Guinea.

The pact, if signed after Fiji announced the end of its police training agreement with China earlier this year, are major victories, rallying the largest Pacific countries to the United States in their attempts to limit China’s influence in the region, Laveil said, adding that Marape could leverage China’s threat to seek more development aid from the United States.

Meanwhile, Australia is preparing to sign its own security treaty with PNG.

The expected signing of the US deal, particularly on the heels of Solomon Islands’ security pact with China last year, could also raise concerns about lines of alignment drawn in a region that has long been prioritized to the projection of force by the unit.

(Signing such pacts) can also be divisive, said Patrick Kaiku, an international relations scholar at the University of Papua New Guinea, noting a perspective among Pacific island states that they should not take sides in geopolitical rivalries.

If states do not adhere to it, it can also be a problem for regional solidarity, he said.

Blinken is expected to meet leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum regional body in Port Moresby on Monday, the forum said, taking Bidens’ place at the rally.

The cancellation of Bidens’ trip, which would have been the first by a sitting US president to Papua New Guinea, has been characterized by some observers as a potential blow to Washington’s recent bid to step up its engagement with the region.

That bid has included the opening of embassies in the Solomon Islands and Tonga this year, while Biden hosted Pacific Island leaders in Washington for a summit in September and released the first-ever national strategy on employee engagement. Pacific islands.

U.S. President Joe Bidens’ now scrapped visit to PNG was meant to be the culmination of those efforts and send a strong signal to Pacific islanders about U.S. engagement in the region, said Parker Novak, a nonresident follower of the Atlantic Council think tank. in the Global China Hub in Washington.

Instead, it underscores skepticism about the ability of the United States to deliver on its promises, Novak said, adding that with Blinkens’ visit and other diplomacy expected, it may not hurt long-term interests. American efforts in the Pacific.

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