No deal with China, says Tkatchenko

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko has urged former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to consider the nation’s interest before making statements about the country’s international partners and relations, especially on security.
Tkatchenko was responding to O’Neill’s recent statement that PNG did not need secret security arrangements with the United States or China, adding that the Police Minister was the right minister, not the Foreign Affairs Minister, to be investigating how to restore public and investor confidence in our law-and-order situation.
Tkatchenko yesterday said O’Neill’s insinuations that the Government had signed a supposed secret PNG-China Security deal, was false.
“Papua New Guinea has not signed such a deal.
“China offered to assist in the policing sector – in training and the supply of equipment to our internal security sector,” Tkatchenko said.
“This offer is being carefully assessed, as we do not want to duplicate or compromise agreements already in place with our traditional security partners, Australia and the United States of America.”
Tkatchenko claimed that O’Neill as Prime Minister in 2013, had sought defence force assistance from China.
“(O’Neill) must appreciate that Papua New Guinea has a carefully structured foreign policy with all of our international partners,” he said.
“This is the same position we held when Grand Chief, Sir Michael Somare was our first Prime Minister in 1975, through to today.”