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CHINA-AUSTRALIA-PNG-SECURITY-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY
Australia eyes PNG military base to curb China’s Pacific influence
SYDNEY, Sept 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Australia is planning to build new naval
base in Papua New Guinea, reports said Wednesday, an apparent move to curb
China’s influence in the Pacific.
Canberra was aiming to finalise an agreement on the joint facility — to be
built on the Pacific nation’s Manus island — ahead of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation summit in Port Moresby in November, The Australian
reported.
The newspaper said Australian defence officials visited PNG’s Lombrum Naval
Base on Manus to review a potential redevelopment after that country’s prime
minister Peter O’Neill visited Brisbane in July.
“The Pacific is a very high-priority area of strategic national security
interest for Australia,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday,
refusing to deny the report.
“But I’m not going to comment on speculation on national security issues,
that would not be appropriate.”
Beijing has been showering billions of dollars in infrastructure loans to
tiny island nations across the Pacific Ocean, a region considered
strategically important as a maritime gateway to Asia.
Canberra, which has a history of military cooperation in the Pacific with
close ally Washington, has warned of a need to counter China’s influence in
the region.
Australia has been critical of Beijing’s Pacific “soft diplomacy”, and
announced this year it would negotiate a security treaty with Vanuatu and
also build an undersea communications cable to the Solomon Islands and Papua
New Guinea.
Canberra’s PNG move follows reports China had approached Vanuatu about the
possibility of opening a military base there.
World leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, will attend the APEC
summit in November, an event both Canberra and Beijing have openly supported,
throwing millions of dollars at security and infrastructure improvements in
PNG.
BSS/AFP/MR/1030 hrs