Beijing piles pressure on PNG over stalled Australian defence treaty after Albanese visit

China is ramping up efforts to kill off a proposed defence treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea, warning Pacific nations should not sign up to security deals which “target any third party”.

This week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese returned from a three-day visit to Port Moresby after failing to secure the long-awaited alliance with PNG which would elevate relations to an ANZUS level.

Mr Albanese and his PNG counterpart James Marape instead signed a hastily drafted communique outlining the principles of the defence treaty, which both leaders hope can be finalised “within weeks”.

Under the yet-to-be-signed agreement the militaries of both nations would be more closely integrated and Australian personnel would gain greater access to PNG facilities, while China would be prevented from striking a similar deal with Port Moresby.

Ahead of a scheduled visit to Beijing by PNG’s Defence Minister, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian declared Pacific Island countries faced “top challenges of tackling climate change and accelerating development”.

“China welcomes closer cooperation between Pacific Island countries (PICs) and other countries. We actively help PICs grow the economy and deliver better lives for their people.”

“That being said, we believe that cooperation between PICs and any country should put the independence and development of PICs first and uphold openness and inclusiveness, and not to target any third party,” he added.

PNG’s Prime Minister says Defence Minister Billy Joseph will this week begin a “road show” to brief Beijing and other diplomatic partners about the stalled Australian deal.

“I will dispatch our Defence Minister to go first to China, and elsewhere in all of our security nations, USA, France, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, to inform them all exactly what this is all about,” Mr Marape said.

The Nightly on Wednesday revealed that PNG’s Prime Minister met with a visiting special envoy of China’s President Xi Jinping earlier this week, where both sides were said to have had “fruitful exchanges on bilateral relations and practical cooperation”.

Images emerged of Beijing envoy Huang Runqiu paying a courtesy call to Mr Marape on Monday - the same day Mr Albanese arrived in the country - and presenting the island nation’s leader with a panda-styled artwork.

“Prime Minister Marape emphasised that the PNG Government attaches great importance to PNG-China relations and firmly adheres to the one-China policy,” China’s embassy in Papua New Guinea said in a statement posted to social media.

Yesterday the embassy also posted images of Mr Huang meeting with PNG’s Governor-General Sir bob Dadae.

Last week Mr Albanese also failed to secure a sweeping defence and economic deal with Vanuatu ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum in Solomon Islands, a nation which struck its own security deal with China in 2019.