Australia's closest neighbour in 'early talks' with China on security deal

Revelations of Papua New Guinea's security talks with China come a month after it signed a $200 million policing deal with Australia.

Papua New Guinea's Foreign Minister Justin Tkachenko said his country wouldn't jeopardise its defence ties with Australia or the US. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas

Key Points

• PNG in early talks with China for security and policing assistance after recent riots.
• In September, China offered training, equipment, and surveillance aid to PNG's police force.
• Last month, PNG signed a $A200 million security deal with Australia to boost policing.

Papua New Guinea is in early talks with China on a potential security and policing deal, Foreign Minister Justin Tkachenko says, weeks after deadly riots in the nation's capital.

Amid jostling between Washington and Beijing for influence in the Pacific, the biggest Pacific Islands nation, Papua New Guinea (PNG), has previously said Australia and the United States are its security partners, while China is an important economic partner.

Talks in 'early stages'

China reached out to PNG in September, offering to assist its police force with training, equipment, and surveillance technology, according to Tkachenko, who spoke with the Reuters news agency. The talks continued last week.

"We deal with China at this stage only at economic and trade level. They are one of our biggest trading partners, but they have offered to assist our policing and security on the internal security side," Tkachenko said on Monday.

Riots in the PNG capital Port Moresby earlier in January left at least 16 dead, with major retail stores burnt and looted, after police held a strike over pay. Source: Getty, AFP / Andrew Kutan

PNG would assess if the Chinese offer duplicated security and policing assistance already being offered by Australia and the United States, he said.

"It is still in the early stages of negotiation with our commissioner of police and our minister of internal security," he said.

"They have offered it to us, but we have not accepted it at this point in time."

Reuters contacted China's foreign ministry for comment.

Not a 'fence sitter'

China was a "strong economic partner" of PNG, and the two nations formed diplomatic ties in 1975, Tkachenko said.

PNG signed a $200 million security deal with Australia last month to boost policing, and days later Prime Minister James Marape told an investment conference in Sydney that he had not held talks with China on security when he visited Beijing in October.

PNG had chosen Australia and the United States as security partners, he said.

Riots in the PNG capital Port Moresby earlier in January left at least 16 dead, with major retail stores burnt and looted, after police held a strike over pay.

Marape's government called in the PNG defence force to restore order but did not seek Australia's help.

China's embassy complained to PNG over the safety risk to Chinese citizens living in Port Moresby.

PNG struck a Defence Co-operation Agreement with the United States during a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in May, giving the US military access to PNG ports and airports.

Tkachenko said PNG would not do anything to jeopardise its defence and security relationships with Australia or the US and was not a "fence sitter".

PNG is just 4kms from one of the northernmost islands in the Torres Strait, and 150kms north of Cape York on the Australian mainland.

Riots in neighbouring Solomon Islands in 2021 saw China strike security and policing pacts with Manasseh Sogavare's government a year later, alarming Washington and Canberra.

Pacific Minister Pat Conroy pledged $35 million in policing assistance to neighbouring East Timor on Monday during an official visit, amid concern in Canberra that Beijing is again aggressively targeting the police and security sectors in the Pacific.

Conroy will on Tuesday visit Nauru, which switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing this month.