Prime ministers Anthony Albanese and James Marape meet in Canberra to deepen security ties with a pact that has a status like a treaty, while Beijing continues its push to expand policing ties with Pacific Island countries and regional defence chiefs discuss a joint military response group.
PNG is Papua New Guinea?
Yes.
It’s Australias geographical closest neighbour.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The signing is already drawing some negative reaction from senior PNG parliamentarians, including former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs committee chair Belden Namah.
“The protests are in court and have not died down completely and we have another Security Framework Agreement with Australia delivered in the exact same manner — without prior knowledge or discussion of its contents by the people’s representatives.”
Australian officials are monitoring the meeting closely, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) briefed diplomats from like-minded countries in Canberra earlier this week.
One Australian government source told the ABC that the meeting appeared to show that China was intent on establishing an annual dialogue with the Pacific on police and security issues, although they said it was not yet clear how many nations would attend on Friday.
Meanwhile, defence ministers from several Pacific and regional countries have met in New Caledonia, where they have agreed to begin work on setting up a combined military unit to respond quickly to humanitarian disasters or security crises.
The idea would draw in militaries from all countries represented at the South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting — Australia, Fiji, France, New Zealand, PNG, Tonga and Chile.
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