Papua New Guinea’s cabinet has approved a bilateral defence treaty with near neighbour Australia, paving the way for the nations’ leaders to sign a landmark agreement that US allies hope will curb Chinese influence in the region. Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape confirmed Thursday that the treaty had been formally approved by his Cabinet. “Australia has only one other mutual defence treaty of this type and at our request Papua New Guinea will now sign this treaty,” Marape said in a statement. Australia’s other alliance-status pact is the ANZUS Treaty signed in 1951 with the United States and New Zealand.
“This reflects the depth of trust, history, and shared future 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 of neighbours and the closest of friends, and this treaty will elevate our relationship to a formal alliance,” Albanese said in a statement. Australia was Papua New Guinea’s colonial master until the developing island nation became independent in 1975.
Australia, with its population of 28 million, and Papua New Guinea, with an estimated population of roughly 10 million, are the most populous nations in the South Pacific. The United States and Australia have both increased military ties in recent years with Papua New Guinea, which is seen as a strategically important partner in countering China’s growing influence in the Pacific. The new Australia-Papua New Guinea pact would vastly increase integration of military equipment and personnel. Marape and and Albanese had hoped to sign the pact at a ceremony in Port Moresby on September 17.
But a Cabinet meeting scheduled two days earlier to endorse the agreement never took place. Instead, Marape and Albanese signed a joint statement supporting the treaty’s core principles. The treaty would recognise that “an armed attack on Australia or Papua New Guinea would be a danger to the peace and security of both countries,” the statement said.
It would also allow for the first time Papua New Guinea citizens to serve in the Australian Defence Force, potentially filling Australia’s longstanding recruitment shortfall. Papua New Guineans could use their service as a pathway to Australian citizenship. China’s embassy in Port Moresby criticized the leaders’ joint statement, saying such a bilateral treaty “should not be exclusive in nature, nor should it restrict or prevent a sovereign country from cooperating with a third party for any reason.”
