US, Papua New Guinea sign defence pact at Pacific summit as China’s influence grows in region
- The pact comes as the US and its allies try to deter Pacific island nations from forming security ties with China
- Leaders of the Pacific islands say rising sea levels caused by climate change are their most pressing security priority
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a defence cooperation pact signed with Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Monday would expand the Pacific island nation’s capabilities and make it easier for the US military to train with its forces.
Meeting PNG Prime Minister James Marape, Blinken said the US would deepen its partnership across the board with PNG, and he expected partnerships with US businesses would bring tens of billions of dollars’ worth of new investment.
After university students protested on campuses against the defence agreement on Monday, Marape said in an evening press conference “there is nothing for us to be fearful about”.
The accord updated an existing US military relationship, he said, and “has nothing to do with China”.
“We have a healthy relationship with the Chinese government and they are an important trading partner,” Marape said with Blinken standing alongside.
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Marape told media on Sunday the defence agreement would see an increase in the US military presence over the next decade, while the US State Department said it would bolster security in the region.
It will expand PNG defence capacity to enhance humanitarian assistance and disaster response, and make it easy for US and PNG forces to train together, Blinken said.
In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a news briefing that China had no objection to mutually beneficial cooperation with Pacific island countries such as PNG, but added: “What we need to be vigilant about is engaging in geopolitical games in the name of cooperation, and we also believe that no cooperation should target any third parties.”
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‘Know what is happening’
The US and PNG struck a separate agreement on increasing maritime surveillance of PNG’s exclusive economic zone through US Coast Guard patrols, protecting its economy from illegal fishing.
Marape said the agreement would boost economic security by giving PNG’s defence force “the ability to know what is happening in its waters – something we have never had since 1975”.
The US will provide US$45 million in new funds as it works with PNG to strengthen economic and security cooperation, including protective equipment for the PNG defence force, climate change mitigation and tackling transnational crime and HIV/Aids, Blinken said.
“Without any doubt we are willing to share our capabilities and experiences in digital technology, space technology, health security, food security, climate change and environment protection,” he said.
In his opening remarks, Marape urged India to think of small island states that “suffer as a result of big nations at play”.
The US also signed a Compact of Free Association with Palau, one of three agreements worth a combined US$7.1 billion that will renew pacts originally struck in the 1980s with Palau, Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia that give the US defence responsibility and access to huge strategic swathes of the Pacific.
The pact “will prevent an authoritarian regime from undermining a free and open Indo-Pacific”, Palau President Surangel Whipps said in a signing ceremony.
