Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Prime Minister James Marape on Friday, after signing agreements with his counterpart, in the final days of an eight-nation tour.
China failed to secure the consensus of 10 Pacific island nations for a far-reaching regional pact on security and trade at a meeting on Monday. Several nations said it was too rushed and that they wanted to consult the wider region, where some countries have diplomatic ties with Taiwan and not with Beijing.
Nonetheless, Wang struck a series of bilateral agreements on infrastructure, fisheries, trade and police equipment during his tour, and officials say talks on a regional pact will continue.
Chart: China’s openness to South Pacific island nations
Chinese state media Xinhua reported this week that Beijing wants developing countries to join its new “Comprehensive Security Initiative”, although details were few.
The United States, Australia and New Zealand have expressed concern over Beijing’s ambitions to increase its security and policing presence in the Pacific, after striking a security pact with the the Solomons.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong arrived in Tonga on Friday to highlight Australia’s new government’s commitments to climate change, on her second trip to the region since being sworn in last week.
“We are not a government or a country that wants to come and tell you what to do,” said Ms Wong, who visited Samoa on Thursday and promised a new coastguard patrol.
Administered by Australia until 1975 and its closest neighbour, Papua New Guinea occupies a strategic position and is rich in resources but largely underdeveloped.
Papua New Guinea has a foreign policy of “friends to all and foes to none”, Prime Minister Marape said in a statement.
“China is the main buyer of our products, and we will engage more with them in trade and exchanges, as well as other aspects of our bilateral relations in the future,” he said.
China buys more than 50% of all the gas produced in Papua New Guinea and “has made a commitment to buy additional gas”, he said.
Mr Marape lashed out at former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, a presidential candidate, who criticized the timing of Mr Wang’s visit as inappropriate and warned that no agreement should be signed .
“The former prime minister knows very well that we should not play politics with the visit of an international leader to our country,” said Mr Marape.
TONGA SHARES ‘RESPECT FOR DEMOCRACY’.
Tonga Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni, who signed six agreements with China on Tuesday, thanked Wong on Friday for Australia’s quick response to a devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami in January.
Tonga and Australia share “respect for democracy and the rule of law and the rights and freedoms of others, and these remain the important principles of our relationship”, he said at the meeting. a press conference.
Australian aid has been crucial in Tonga’s history and will continue in priority areas of education, health, defence, trade, policing and democratic governance, it said. he declares.
Tonga has an external debt of $195 million, or 35.9% of its GDP, two-thirds of which is owed to China’s Export-Import Bank, according to its budget.
Sovaleni told reporters on Wednesday that the debt was discussed during the Chinese foreign minister’s visit, and that Tonga would continue to make repayments.
Australia has offered to increase employment opportunities for Tongans in Australia, as well as export opportunities, he added.