AUSTRALIA and Papua New Guinea hailed the signing of a major security agreement that includes the presence of Australian troops in the Pacific Island country.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape hailed the signing of the bilateral security agreement in Canberra earlier this week.
The deal includes more assistance for Papua New Guinea’s Police, cybersecurity, and disaster relief as well as support for its legal system, wherein Australia pledged 200 million Australian dollars to support the said initiatives.
The deal was signed six months earlier than initially planned.
Papua New Guinea, the largest country in the Pacific, suffers frequent ethnic conflicts and tribal violence.
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin called for normal exchanges and equal cooperation between countries within and outside the region and Pacific Island nations when asked to comment on a newly signed security deal between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea also signed a defense deal with the United States in May to upgrade its military bases in exchange for granting Washington unrestricted access to its key naval bases, ports, and airfields.
University students in the Pacific country protested against the signing of defense cooperation with the United States and demanded for more transparency from the government.
Marape however made it clear that the pacific country is not siding with either US or Australia in their strategic competition with China.
Australia and Papua New Guinea signed the security deal after its neighbor Solomon Islands had also inked a series of security agreements with China, with the latest deal to have signed in July of this year.
