Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday was unable to clinch an ambitious defense treaty with Papua New Guinea (PNG) during a visit to the country, a week after he failed to land a security pact with another South Pacific island neighbor, Vanuatu, aimed at curbing China’s influence in the region.
The diplomatic setbacks come ahead of his potential first meeting with US President Donald Trump next week, during which regional security would be on the agenda.
Albanese had announced that the bilateral treaty with PNG would be signed during his three-day visit to the country’s capital, Port Moresby, that ended yesterday.
Photo: AFP
However, a PNG Cabinet meeting scheduled for Monday to endorse the treaty never took place.
Instead of signing the treaty, Albanese and PNG Prime Minister James Marape released a communique that said the text had been agreed on and the document would be signed “following Cabinet processes in both countries.”
Albanese had similarly expected to sign a bilateral security and economic treaty during a visit to Vanuatu on Tuesday last week, but left the country with an assurance that negotiations would continue.
Vanuatuan Prime Minister Jotham Napat last week said that there were concerns within his government that the treaty could limit Vanuatu’s ability to raise money for critical infrastructure from any third country, such as China.
Albanese yesterday rejected a reporter’s suggestion that he was overreaching by trying to persuade countries to sign deals they were not ready for.
“Democracies aren’t the same as authoritarian regimes. They go through processes. We respect them,” Albanese said.
“Processes are important and sovereignty’s important, and we respect it and Papua New Guinea will go through its Cabinet processes, but we have ... agreed on the words in this treaty,” he added.
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