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Amid China tensions, Australia seeks ‘closest possible relationship’ with PNG after Wang Yi’s visit

  • ‘Our futures are tied together,’ Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said in Port Moresby on Monday of the Australia-Papua New Guinea relationship
  • China’s Wang Yi had visited the Pacific island nation in June to deepen cooperation on energy, fisheries, communications and health

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Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong. Photo: EPA-EFE
Reutersin Sydney
Australia wants the closest possible relationship with Papua New Guinea, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Monday, marking the new Labor government’s first visit to its northern neighbour amid competition with China for influence.
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Prime Minister James Marape was returned to the role in August after Papua New Guinea’s national election, and will meet with Wong on Monday.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has previously turned down a Chinese offer to redevelop a naval base. Canberra is funding Telstra’s acquisition of PNG’s biggest mobile provider, Digicel, to counter a growing Chinese influence in the Pacific island nation.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pictured in Papua New Guinea in June. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pictured in Papua New Guinea in June. Photo: Xinhua
PNG and China agreed to deepen cooperation in energy, fisheries, communications and health during a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in June, according to a Chinese statement released during the visit.

Papua New Guinea won independence from Australia in 1975 under a Labor government, and Wong said in Port Moresby on Monday the two countries had traded together for thousands of years and should continue to have the “closest possible relationship”.

“Our futures are tied together,” she said.

“Our traditional partners have always been Australia when it comes to trade, economics, security and we will continue to do so … to make sure we have a safe region,” PNG’s new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Justin Tkatchenko, said at a live-streamed news conference.

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