Australia, Papua New Guinea to sign defense pact

SYDNEY, February 22 ------ Australia said it will discuss a defense treaty with Papua New Guinea, boosting ties with a Pacific state that has been courted persistently by China. The historically close Pacific nations said in a joint statement they were committed to negotiating the treaty to deepen integration of their forces and make it easier to offer security support.  

"This will enable our two defense forces to walk down a pathway of increasing integration and increasing interoperability," Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said. "We live in a world which is increasingly strategically complex," he told reporters at a press conference with his Papua New Guinea counterpart. "It is really important that we are working with our closest friends, but in this case, we are working with family and that is very much how we see our relationship with Papua New Guinea." Few details were given on the future treaty, which would build on an overarching security agreement signed between the two countries in 2023. 

Papua New Guinea Defense Minister Billy Joseph said the treaty was important "with the geopolitics and all the different contests that are going on." "We have consciously made a decision to choose who should be our friends as far as security is concerned," he said. Papua New Guinea has many friends but it counts Australia as "very close," Joseph said. Perched less than 200 kilometers from Australia's northernmost border, Papua New Guinea is the largest and most populous state in Melanesia. Australia has been signing security deals, dishing out aid funding and ramping up diplomatic visits to cement its influence in the South Pacific, while China renews its efforts to woo island nations in the region. Over the past decade, China has committed billions of dollars to Pacific nations, funding hospitals, sports stadiums, roads and other public works. 

Meanwhile, Australia is closely monitoring a Chinese navy task group in the country's exclusive economic zone off its east coast, but the ships did not pose any threats as they had not breached any maritime laws, Marles said on Thursday. A People's Liberation Army Navy frigate, cruiser and replenishment vessel had last week entered Australia's maritime with the frigate transiting the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea. It has since moved south, sailing within 240 kilometers of the coast of Sydney, the Financial Times reported. "We are keeping a close watch on them and we will be making sure that we watch every move," Marles told Sky News. "And whenever this mission is over on the part of the Chinese task group, we will assess everything we have seen to make a proper assessment of exactly what they were trying to achieve through this mission." 

Australia's air force and navy were monitoring the ships, he said. "This is not unprecedented but an unusual event. Just as they have a right to be in international waters we have a right to be prudent and to make sure that we are surveilling them, which is what we are doing," Marles said. 

Source: manilatimes.net