Canberra: After signing a security deal with China's nearby Solomon Islands, Australia's Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Wednesday that Papua New Guinea has signed a security agreement between the two countries amid rising tensions in the Pacific islands. was proposed.
While Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told ABC television that talks were at a "very early stage", Papua New Guinean Foreign Minister Justin Tkachenko claimed he discussed a security pact with Wong during Wong's visit to Port Moresby. Had it. on Tuesday.
Since the signing of a security deal with China in April, the Solomon Islands' relations with the United States and its Pacific allies have been strained. According to Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific island nations, security requirements must be met within the region.
Marles said on ABC radio on Wednesday that PNG had proposed the idea.
We are very clear in our desire to be as close to PNG as possible. We seek to strengthen our existing military-to-military ties with Papua New Guinea, which we consider to be one of our most important military-to-military ties, he continued.
Although it was once a colony, Papua New Guinea is now Australia's nearest northern neighbor and is linked to China through trade and investment.
A comprehensive trade and security agreement between China and 10 Pacific island countries, including PNG, fell through in June.
Following a failed Chinese proposal to redevelop a naval base in 2018, Australia and the US are funding the upgrade of a naval base on PNG's Manus Island.
Chinese Navy ships travel through the narrow Torres Strait that separates Australia from Papua New Guinea. In February, a Chinese ship fired a laser at an Australian military surveillance aircraft that was flying on a northern approach to Australia, triggering tensions.
The Solomon Islands, which shares maritime borders with PNG and Australia, announced on Tuesday that it was barring foreign navies from visiting its ports until a new approval process is in place.
Marles declined to say directly whether Australia had been notified of the port travel ban, noting that the US government had been notified a week earlier when a US Coast Guard ship made a port call at Honiara. was unable to.
We don't take it lightly, he said, "but we want to see Australia as the clear partner of choice for countries in the Pacific."
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