Australia-Papua New Guinea deal is not just about China

The security agreement signed by Canberra and Port Moresby has triggered commentary that it was a reaction to China’s rise
If China fears have sparked this stepped-up security cooperation between two neighbours, those fears have had a net positive effect

David Morris

Published: 7:30pm, 13 Dec 2023

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The prime ministers of Australia and Papua New Guinea signed a historic security agreement in Canberra on December 7 which has received the usual commentary that it’s “all about China”.

To be sure, Australia has been slow to formally extend such a security partnership to its former colony, and perhaps China’s rise has roused it from its slumber, but cooperation between these two neighbours is simply good sense.

While Australian and other geopolitical analysts typically depict the world as a zero-sum chessboard and have in recent years evoked fears of Chinese military bases in the South Pacific, nothing to confirm such scares has emerged to date. China nevertheless is expanding policing cooperation with the Pacific. This appears to be in response to security risks faced by its companies, but makes Australia nervous.

Fears of geopolitical competition appear to have jolted Australia into finally taking its Pacific neighbours more seriously. After years of previous governments ignoring Pacific pleas to address the region’s real security challenges, including climate change and internal law and order problems, the Albanese government has begun investing in substantive partnerships across the region.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong and other senior officials have been engaged in shuttle diplomacy to repair regional relationships. Australia recently struck a groundbreaking agreement on security as well as “human mobility with dignity” for the climate change-threatened citizens of the small island Tuvalu.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the big one. It may be among the poorest nations in the world, but it is the largest Pacific island country, resource-rich and strategically important to Australia. Its population is growing rapidly, and may surpass Australia’s by mid-century.

Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby on May 19. Photo: AFP

As Australia discovered in World War II, PNG and the Pacific is where the security of the Australian continent is most vulnerable. The PNG government signed an agreement earlier this year with the United States to upgrade previously neglected military bases.

Arguably the most important element of the new Australia-PNG framework, however, is for Australia to assist its neighbour in improving internal law and order. This was way overdue.

Rampant crime and local conflicts have for too long inflicted high costs on communities. While PNG’s internal security challenges are no doubt partly a result of the deep inequalities from the development process, they are also a brake on development.

Fear of crime deters tourists from visiting the country, despite its unique cultural attractions and spectacular scenery. Local violence is a high risk for investors, whether in mining, agriculture or other opportunities.

Although embedding around 50 Australian police officers in PNG is understandably controversial, the new agreement cleverly puts these Australian police in management roles but under PNG control. It is a step towards the PNG government’s ambitious plan to grow the police force from 6,000 to 26,000.

Any future Chinese cooperation in policing, along the lines recently agreed with the Solomon Islands, would also be controversial, but should not be ruled out. To reassure the geopolitical pundits, though, the Australia-PNG deal makes it clear third-party security agreements would be developed only after full consultation and coordination.

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There is ample good sense in Australia and PNG also cooperating on regional security. It is in the interests of both countries that the Pacific region remains free of geopolitical rivalry, and close cooperation between them should be a stabilising factor.

It would make sense for Australia to step up training and rotations with the PNG defence force, to bolster joint defences. Any expenditure on security cooperation can also be designed to maximise economic benefits to the developing PNG economy as a welcome side effect.

If China fears have sparked this stepped-up security cooperation between two neighbours, those fears have had a net positive effect, just like geopolitics is widely considered to have prompted Australia to commit funding for a major electrification project in PNG on the sidelines of the 2018 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Only 13 per cent of PNG’s population had access to electricity at that time.

It is about time Australia made PNG a priority partner instead of simply an aid beneficiary. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in making the agreement, said, “For our interests going forward, we have no closer friends than Papua New Guinea”.

Meanwhile, we can expect PNG to continue to pursue its national philosophy of “friends to all, enemies to none”. That will include benefiting from its economic relationship with China.

David Morris is a former Australian and multilateral diplomat