By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met his Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape in the capital of the largest Pacific Island nation on Wednesday for defence talks after plans to sign a landmark mutual defence treaty stalled.
The two leaders instead signed a defence communique.
Marape told reporters it was in the two countries’ mutual interest to work side by side on defence.
“I made a conscious choice that Australia remains our security partner of choice,” he said, adding Papua New Guinea could not defend its land and ocean space alone, and the deal was in the national interest.
The text of the communique, released by Albanese’s office, said Papua New Guinea and Australia had agreed on the text of a mutual defence treaty, which will be signed following cabinet processes in both countries.A meeting of the Papua New Guinea government’s cabinet of ministers on Sunday did not have enough members to reach a quorum to endorse the treaty, Albanese said earlier.
It is the second setback to defence ties for Australia in the Pacific Islands this month, after Albanese travelled to Vanuatu last week but was unable to sign a A$500 million ($326.5 million) security partnership because the Vanuatu government’s coalition partner wanted further scrutiny.
Australia has sought to use the security deals to block Chinese influence in the region. Marape told reporters China had no hand in stalling the deal.
Arriving in Papua New Guinea on Monday for 50th anniversary of independence celebrations, Albanese had said the mutual defence treaty with Australia’s closest Pacific neighbour would lift security ties to the equivalent of its alliance with the United States.
Australia has said that Pacific security needed to be “undertaken within the Pacific family”.
The Papua New Guinea treaty is a mutual defence alliance that recognises an armed attack on Australia or Papua New Guinea would be a danger to the peace and security of both countries, the statement from Albanese’s office said.
Albanese said he was confident the treaty would be signed in the future. “It will be Australia’s first new alliance in more than 70 years,” he said.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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