The tiny island with a big role in US plans for the South China Sea

The bare-bones Lombrum Naval Base on tiny Manus Island could be a key part of efforts to push back against Chinese influence in regional waters

But the big task ahead for Washington and Canberra is to calm nerves in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia about the base

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Lorengau, the capital of Manus Island. Photo: Jonas Gratzer

Published: 12:00pm, 3 Dec 2018Updated: 2:37am, 4 Dec 2018

Papua New Guinea’s now-bare-bones Lombrum Naval Base, once a major allied staging point in the Pacific War against Japan, could be the crucial jigsaw piece that America’s strategic planners have been searching for as they try to push back against China’s rising assertions in regional waters.

But as Washington and Canberra forge ahead with plans to upgrade the facility – and potentially deploy assets there in the future – strategic observers say the two stalwart allies must tread carefully to avoid tripping up another country friendly to both: Indonesia.

For now there are no signs that the upgrade has set off alarms at the highest levels of President Joko Widodo’s government, but comments this week by one mid-level official suggest there may be pockets of anxiety.

Touching on the base plans, Abdul Kharis Almasyhari, chairman of a parliamentary commission with oversight of defence and security, was quoted by local media as saying foreign powers should not “militarise the Asia-Pacific”.

He urged the Widodo government to lobby against the formation of foreign naval bases in Papua New Guinea, adding that it would “increase political tensions” in the region.

The Lombrum facility, which rises out of thick jungle on Papua New Guinea’s Manus island, was already being upgraded by Australia before US Vice-President Mike Pence announced on November 17 that America was joining the effort.

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