Papua New Guinea, US to sign security pact with eye on China

The US says the deal improves security cooperation and further strengthens the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) will sign a defense pact with the United States on Monday as it hosts Washington’s top diplomat and India’s prime minister for separate talks likely to be dominated by China’s rising influence in the Pacific.

PNG, just north of Australia, is strategically important and was the site of fierce battles during World War II.

The US State Department said the defense cooperation agreement would “improve security cooperation and further strengthen our bilateral relationship, enhance the capability of the PNG defense force and increase stability and security in the region”.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape said the deal would help his country tackle major challenges.

“We have both our internal security and our sovereignty security issues,” Marape said Monday morning. “We’re moving forward on that front to make sure our borders are secure.”

Last week he said the deal would give PNG access to US satellite surveillance to combat “illegal activity on the high seas”.

There were protests on several university campuses, including in Lae, the country’s second-largest city, against the signing of the agreement, citing concerns about the effect on the country’s relationship with China, a major trading partner.

There are also concerns about the militarization of the Pacific after Beijing signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands last year. That pact led the US to renew its involvement in the region, opening new embassies and hosting an unprecedented summit of Pacific leaders at the White House.

Following the signing of the defense deal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will follow Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in holding separate talks with 14 Pacific leaders, including New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who have gathered at the PNG capital Port Moresby.

Police Commissioner David Manning said there was a heavy police and military presence around the capital with roads blocked and defense patrol boats in the water around the meeting site.

US President Joe Biden was due to travel to PNG, but canceled the trip to participate in debt ceiling talks in Washington. He would have been the first sitting president to visit the country.

While the US Defense Pact is being presented as a deal to protect Papua New Guinea’s territorial borders, experts say China’s presence in the Pacific is a key driver.

“Port Moresby is no longer the sleepy diplomatic outpost it once was,” Gordon Peake, a senior advisor for the Pacific Islands at the United States Institute of Peace, told AFP news agency.

“While China may not be mentioned anywhere in the document, it is an important subtext in this story of deepening US-PNG relations.”

Marape said the deal would not prevent him from making similar deals with other countries, including China.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also in PNG to meet Pacific leaders.

Modi told the 14 leaders of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation that India would be a reliable partner for small island nations amid challenges caused by supply chain disruptions and climate change.

He stressed India’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.