Ties with China ‘healthy’

By GYNNIE KERO
PRIME Minister James Marape says Papua New Guinea has a “healthy relationship” with China.
“They also are important and a big trading partner,” he said.
Marape was responding to criticisms over the signing of defence cooperation agreements with the United States in Port Moresby on Monday, with some seeing it as putting at risk the PNG-China relationship.
“But we (PNG, US) are moving into finalising this (defence cooperation) agreement.
“We did not need to tell anyone else what we’re doing,” he said.
He said China had assured PNG “in our conversations that we have every right to engage with the US as much as we have with them”.
“The Secretary of State (Antony Blinken) stated that this has nothing to do with the bigger issues, the headline issues that keep on going off every now and then,” Marape said. “PNG invited the US to move beyond an ordinary agreement to a specifically defence-focused agreement. In my view, that strengthens our Defence Force.
“They will come in at the invitation of our Defence Force and not at their own will.”
He said the signing of the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) was a culmination of many years of engagement with the Pentagon and Washington.
“It (DCA) wasn’t shoved down our throat. It wasn’t forced upon us. It was a mutual agreement.
“A conversation held expressly on the need for Papua New Guinea to have our defence force assisted, supported, and stepped up.”
He said the documents would be made public soon.
The two agreements will boost cooperation between the PNG Defence Force and the US Coast Guard to build capacity, and combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.