The case of PNG, China and Australia

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For the unit IR432 Geopolitics in Asia-Pacific, we will be looking at various issues in the region. The topics or themes given for the group presentation task is based on three countries in the region:
  1. PNG
  2. Australia
  3. China
These 3 countries have dominated news headlines this year (2018). Both China and Australia are major development partners of PNG. PNG with its growing population and abundance of natural resources is slowly becoming a significant player in regional politics. This is evident in the post below by our foreign minister.



But is PNG playing China against Australia or vise versa in order to gain more? This video below insinuates that PNG is doing just that, and the current government is cunningly playing the game.


Apart from using the APEC agenda, the O'Neill/Abel government have employed another tactic to join China's 'One Belt One Road' initiative. Whether it is a carefully calculated strategy, or just an innocent move to help develop the country, the timing is impeccable and the effect it has on Australia is mind blowing.

A few years ago, PNG came up with the grand idea of sponsoring a team in Australia's national rugby league competition. The idea was similar to the New Zealand Warriors franchise. This led to the creation of the PNG Hunters and their entry into the Queensland rugby league competition.

A motion tabled in the New South Wales Labour Party annual conference a few days ago has got us all thinking. The motion calls for a future Federal Labour Government to support PNG's NRL bid as a foreign policy initiative.

Is this move by Labour aimed at countering the growing influence of China in PNG and the region? Why is Australia trying to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Papua New Guineans? Will this move make Australia see PNG as an equal, similar to New Zealand?

The end game is, as Papua New Guineans, we want to see tangible development. We want to see roads connecting one end of the country to another. We want to see big bridges across big rivers so we can travel around to source betel nuts for our markets and clients.  We want to see modern football stadiums in various provincial centers around the country.

If China or Australia can help build the much needed physical infrastructure then it will go a long way in influencing other changes in the country.

Therefore these are the topics or themes for research and presentation:
  1. PNG in the year of the APEC Summit: advantage and disadvantages.
  2. Hans Morgenthau's elements or national power and PNG's national power projection in the Asia-Pacific region.
  3. Australia's response to the increase of Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
  4. The South China Sea issue and its impact on other states in the Asia-Pacific region.
  5. PNG's rice policy and its impact on other states in the Asia-Pacific region.
  6. PNG's advocacy of the climate change issue in Asia-Pacific regional forums.
  7. China's population and its influence on Chinese foreign policy towards states in the Asia-Pacific region.
You will notice that the 6 geographical factors feature in the different topics or themes. 

Comments

  1. Josiah PupJuly 31, 2018 at 10:08 AM

    Yes, as a Papua New Guinean we have seen that there are two powers intervened into Papua New Guinea for only one reason is through the exploration of natural resources. Thus, natural resources is the key factor that pressure China and Australia to focus deeply on PNG through providing aid and grants to extract the resources we have in PNG.

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