The Yegiora Files

By Bernard Yegiora In this week’s seminar , the central objective was not to tell students what to think about China’s growing presence in PNG and the Pacific. The objective was to expose them to competing scholarly perspectives and require them to form their own informed judgement. Seminar reflection: Is China a security threat or a development partner for PNG? Engaging the literature, examining competing views, and developing independent analysis. The discussion began with Matbob’s analysis of tensions between local communities and Chinese traders in PNG. These tensions highlight how economic competition, weak regulatory enforcement, and uneven development outcomes can produce social friction. Students were asked to consider whether such localised grievances constitute evidence of a broader security threat — or whether they reflect governance challenges within PNG itself. We then examined PNG’s balancing strategy. As argued in my own work , PNG engages China economically while main...