SYDNEY: China cautioned Papua New Guinea against \u201cundermining\u201d its interests and sovereignty in signing a mutual defense pact with Australia widely seen as a counter to Beijing\u2019s growing influence in the Pacific.<\/p>\n
Australia and Papua New Guinea this week agreed on the text of a deal which will see the countries commit to defending each other from armed attacks.<\/p>\n
Asked about the deal, a spokesperson for Beijing\u2019s embassy in Port Moresby said China respected Papua New Guinea\u2019s right to strike deals with other countries.<\/p>\n
But such a deal should not be \u201cexclusive,\u201d nor restrict Papua New Guinea from cooperating with other countries, the spokesperson said late Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should also refrain from targeting any third party or undermining its legitimate rights and interests,\u201d they warned.<\/p>\n
China urged the country to maintain \u201cmutually beneficial cooperation\u201d with Beijing and \u201cuphold independence and self-reliance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beijing has committed billions of dollars to Pacific nations over the past decade, funding hospitals, sports stadiums, roads and other public works in an attempt to win their favor.<\/p>\n
Canberra has stepped up its engagement with the region in a bid to counter China\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n
Australia and Papua New Guinea say the treaty will be signed after cabinet processes in both countries, following a delay this week.<\/p>\n
The text of their deal says \u201cany activities, agreements or arrangements with third parties would not compromise the ability of either of the Parties to implement the Treaty\u201d \u2013 a clear nod to China.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister James Marape said this week he would send his defense minister, Billy Joseph, to China to discuss the agreement.<\/p>\n
To the north of former colonial power Australia, Papua New Guinea is the largest and most populous state in Melanesia.<\/p>\n
Beijing\u2019s economic support in the Pacific appears to be paying dividends, with Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Nauru all severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China in recent years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SYDNEY: China cautioned Papua New Guinea against \u201cundermining\u201d its interests and sovereignty in signing a mutual defense pact with Australia widely seen as a counter to Beijing\u2019s growing influence in the Pacific. Australia and Papua New Guinea this week agreed on the text of a deal which will see the countries commit to defending each …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":86983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87016,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87005\/revisions\/87016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}