US and allies sideline China in PNG’s Bougainville by helping fund independence vote
- The vote in PNG’s autonomous region of Bougainville, formerly the site of a bloody civil conflict, will run from November 23 to December 7
- The US – along with Australia, New Zealand and Japan – helped plug a funding shortfall of US$2 million
The United States and its Pacific allies have plugged a funding gap that endangered next month’s independence referendum in Papua New Guinea’s region of Bougainville, in a strategic move that also sidelined China, two sources said.
Two sources with direct knowledge of the arrangements in Bougainville said China was not blocked from helping fund the referendum, but neither was it invited to contribute when the shortfall emerged.
“It’s just that the invitation never arrived, or, rather, was never sent,” one source said.
The second source said the West wanted to limit China’s engagement with what could soon be the world’s newest nation, strategically located in waters separating Asia and the Americas. China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to questions.
The funding shortfall emerged early this year amid preparations, overseen by former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, to register the votes of 300,000 people, most of them spread over the main island of Bougainville, nearby Buka, and other outlying islands.
The US – along with Australia, New Zealand and Japan – helped plug the funding gap of 7.1 million kina (US$2 million), according to a breakdown of funding arrangements provided by the Bougainville Referendum Commission.