PNC will nullify deals: MP

FORMER Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says lack of details on the supposed agreements signed in Port Moresby on Friday between the caretaker Government and the Chinese government is deeply concerning.
O’Neill added that should his People’s National Congress (PNC) party form government, these agreements would be nullified on the basis they were not undertaken in the right spirit and in accordance with Papua New Guinea’s democratic values.
“PNG is tired and really fed up with how this current Government has handled our biggest moments over the last three years, including the shutdown of Porgera that has cost us K9.3 billion and now this bungled diplomacy,” he said.
“Lack of properness in our dealings with investors, trading partners, businesses, corrupt spending on Coronavirus (Covid-19) and borrowing K20 billion for no new development, is hurting families, communities and our country.
“It simply has to stop or we will have sold our own country to those who come visiting under suspicious circumstances.
“I repeat my support for our Chinese community both here and overseas.”
The former prime minister said he wanted to work with China and Australia to revive the country’s flagging resource sector but would not sign a security pact with Beijing or any other nation as reported by the Australian Financial Review.
O’Neill said he wanted to work with China and Australia to boost investments in the country’s resources sector and was optimistic about working with the Albanese government.
He added that the battle for influence in the region was not actually about the wellbeing of Pacific nations.
China’s Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi visited Port Moresby on the final leg of a 10-day diplomatic trip and met with Prime Minister James Marape on Friday.
Despite the trip around the Pacific, the Solomon Islands was the only Pacific nation to sign a bilateral security framework agreement with China.
Commenting on that in Port Moresby, Wang said the Solomon Islands was an independent sovereign state and had the right to sign bilateral agreements with other countries.
“To interfere in the domestic affairs of the Solomon Islands and dictate terms to the country would be disrespect to a sovereign nation,” Wang said.
“The bilateral security framework agreement between China and the Solomon Islands was conducted in light of the request and need of the Solomon Islands and through consultations on an equal footing.
“Its purpose is to assist the Solomons in maintaining social order.
He noted that some media outlets were hyping up a regional security agreement China intends to sign with Pacific island countries.
“This is simply disinformation.
“China has come to the South Pacific to build roads and bridges and improve the people’s lives, not to station troops or build military bases.”