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Biden to sign defence pact in Papua New Guinea, with eyes on China
PNG, the South Pacific's most populous nation, will also see a doubling of US development assistance to $32 million, including $25 million to tackle its security priority of climate change, State Department documents submitted to the US Congress show.
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US President Joe Biden (right) meets with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) during the AUKUS summit at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego California on March 13, 2023. (AFP/Jim Watson)
U
S President Joe Biden will sign defence and surveillance agreements with Papua New Guinea, the island nation's foreign minister said, on a visit that renews the strategic importance of the nation where Biden's uncle died in World War Two.
PNG, the South Pacific's most populous nation, will also see a doubling of US development assistance to $32 million, including $25 million to tackle its security priority of climate change, State Department documents submitted to the US Congress show.
Washington is seeking to deter Pacific island nations, which span 40 million kilometres of ocean, from security ties with China, a rising concern amid tensions over Taiwan.
Biden will visit PNG capital Port Moresby on May 22 on his way to a summit of the Quad countries - the United States, Japan, India and Australia - in Sydney, the White House has confirmed. There he will meet 18 Pacific island leaders.
Foreign Minister Justin Tkachenko told Reuters a Defence Cooperation Agreement between the US and PNG was finalised last week, "which now allows us to officially sign it when Biden comes here".
A separate agreement to allow the US Coast Guard to patrol PNG's vast exclusive economic zone, with PNG officials on board as "ship riders", also will be signed and cover satellite surveillance, he said in an interview.
"We will be able to utilise the US satellite security systems. Once we sign that it will help monitor our waters, which we can't at the moment," he said.
