The Yegiora Files

By Bernard Yegiora The Marape-Rosso Government's decision to close the Chinese Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in PNG has attracted considerable attention. Coming only days after Prime Minister James Marape and Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko publicly criticised China's recent missile test in the Pacific, some observers may view the decision as contradictory. It is not. If anything, it demonstrates an important principle of diplomacy that is often misunderstood: states rarely allow disagreement in one policy area to define an entire bilateral relationship. Only days earlier, PNG had expressed concern over China's ICBM test in the Pacific. Prime Minister James Marape reiterated his vision of the Pacific as an "Ocean of Peace," while Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko questioned the wisdom of conducting missile tests near small Pacific Island states. Those statements reflected PNG's concerns about regional security. The decision to close the Taiwan...

By Bernard Yegiora China’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile test in the Pacific generated considerable regional debate. Political leaders, diplomats, defence officials and commentators focused on the strategic meaning of the launch, the implications for Pacific security and the responsibility of major powers operating in the region. For PNG, the debate also exposed a more fundamental national security question: Does the country possess the scientific and technical expertise required to independently assess complex strategic technologies? This question extends far beyond one missile test. The contemporary security environment is increasingly shaped by ballistic missiles, satellite systems, artificial intelligence, cyber warfare, autonomous weapons, biotechnology, quantum technologies and advanced surveillance systems. These are not issues that can be understood through political analysis alone. They require scientific expertise. PNG’s National Security Policy 2024–2029 alre...

By Bernard Yegiora Prime Minister James Marape’s call for the Pacific to remain an “Ocean of Peace” is morally appealing. It speaks to the region’s painful history of war, nuclear testing, foreign military activity, and great-power competition. But as foreign policy, the phrase is utopian. Major powers will not stop testing weapons because Pacific leaders ask them to. The United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom all maintain defence strategies that require weapons testing, deterrence signalling, and military readiness. Whether Pacific Island countries like it or not, weapons testing is not disappearing. This is why PNG must move beyond slogans and adopt a realist Pacific security position. The real question is not whether missile testing can be completely stopped. It cannot. The real question is whether PNG can demand transparency, prior notification, environmental safeguards, sovereign respect, and one consistent diplomatic standard from all major powers. This matt...

By Bernard Yegiora Week 2 Meeting 3 of PG428 Foreign Policy in PNG continued the important work of translating Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Policy White Paper 2025 into practical student-led case studies. The unit is co-facilitated with Mr. Lahui Ako and is designed to move students beyond theory and into the real-world policy challenges facing PNG’s foreign relations. For those who missed the session or would like to review the group presentations and feedback, the Week 2 Meeting 3 recording is available here: https://youtu.be/0ugsM6cmMdM The meeting focused on presentations from Groups 1, 2, and 3. These groups presented their selected case studies, research questions, key agencies, stakeholders, and initial implementation plans. This followed the previous week’s activity, where students were organised into seven permanent groups and allocated case study topics drawn from the Foreign Policy White Paper 2025. The purpose of the activity is straightforward: students must engage PNG’s for...

By Bernard Yegiora On Friday, 10 July, from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm , our online class will focus on reviewing the Papua New Guinea Foreign Policy White Paper 2025 . This session will form part of Assessment Task 2: Online Participation , which means students are expected to do more than simply attend the Zoom class. You must actively participate by asking questions, making comments, contributing to group discussion, and helping your group complete the Zoom Whiteboard activity. A screenshot of Week Two on Moodle. Students are required to complete both Lesson 2 and Activity 2 during the same week. Lesson 2 focuses on The Two Worlds of Foreign Policy — Academics, Practitioners, and Implementation , while Activity 2 is a separate online participation task reviewing the PNG Foreign Policy White Paper 2025 using Gyngell and Wesley’s four levels of analysis. The focus of this activity is straightforward but important: we will review the Foreign Policy White Paper 2025 as a foreign policy decisio...

By Bernard Yegiora  The appointment of Dr Nicole Haley as Papua New Guinea’s Electoral Commissioner should not be reduced to a personal debate about her academic credentials. Dr Haley is a respected scholar who has studied Papua New Guinea’s elections and political system for many years. Her expertise is not in question. The real concern is institutional and national. I teach in an Area Studies program that focuses on Papua New Guinea. Every year, we train students to study PNG politics, governance, foreign policy, development, law, society, and public institutions. We encourage them to take their country seriously as a field of knowledge and as a national responsibility. One day, I would like to see one of my students become Electoral Commissioner of Papua New Guinea. That is why this appointment worries me. If Papua New Guineans are being trained to understand their own country, if they are being educated in governance, public policy, political studies, and administration, then ...

 By Bernard Yegiora The second PG428 Foreign Policy in PNG Zoom meeting for the week focused on preparing students for Assessment Task 3: Case Study. The session brought together Communication Arts students and PNG Studies students in a fully online learning environment, as provided for in the Program Specification Document. Mr. Lahui Ako and I worked with the students to form seven case study groups based on key implementation priorities drawn from the Papua New Guinea Foreign Policy White Paper 2025. The purpose of the exercise was to help students move beyond simply reading policy documents and begin thinking about how foreign policy can be translated into practical action through PNG’s public service machinery. The central message of the session was clear: foreign policy is not only about statements, speeches, diplomatic visits, and international agreements. The real test is implementation. For PNG, this means asking how government departments, statutory agencies, diplomatic mi...