The Yegiora Files

 By Bernard Yegiora Students in PG428 Foreign Policy in PNG recently completed a special online activity reviewing the PNG Foreign Policy White Paper 2025 using Gyngell and Wesley’s four levels of foreign policy analysis : strategic, contextual, organisational, and operational. The activity required students to move beyond simply summarising the White Paper. Instead, they were asked to review it as a foreign policy decision-making document . This meant examining how PNG’s national interests, domestic and regional challenges, institutional actors, and implementation issues shape the country’s foreign policy direction. The session was conducted through Zoom, with student groups presenting their analysis to the class. Each group reviewed the White Paper through the four levels of analysis and identified which level best explained the document overall. Most groups selected the strategic level as the primary level of analysis, arguing that the White Paper is mainly concerned with PNG...

By Bernard Yegiora The meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and PNG Foreign Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko in Manila on 22 July 2026 should not be treated as another routine diplomatic engagement. It confirms a significant change in the political foundations of China–PNG relations. PNG and China reaffirmed their deepening bilateral partnership during high-level talks in Manila on 22 July 2026, with the One-China Policy and expanded cooperation central to the discussions. The formal diplomatic position has not changed: PNG has recognised the People’s Republic of China and adhered to the 'One China' Policy since diplomatic relations were established in 1976. What has changed is how strictly PNG is now interpreting and implementing that policy. For almost four decades, PNG maintained a form of dual-track pragmatism . It recognised Beijing diplomatically while allowing unofficial commercial and economic relations with Taiwan. The decision to close the Taipei Econom...

By Bernard Yegiora  Part One of a three-part series on the implications of the West Papua conflict for PNG's national security. Recent developments in West Papua should be treated as early-warning indicators by PNG’s National Security Agency and the other agencies operating within the National Security Sector. Videos circulated on Facebook and other social-media platforms appear to show West Papuan armed fighters displaying high-powered firearms. On 2 July 2026, fighters from the West Papua National Liberation Army, commonly known as the TPNPB, claimed responsibility for killing an American pilot and burning his aircraft in Yahukimo. The armed group subsequently claimed responsibility for killing three Indigenous Papuans whom it accused of supplying intelligence to Indonesian authorities. Viewed individually, these incidents may appear to be separate episodes within a longstanding armed conflict. Viewed collectively, however, they indicate a possible increase in armed capability,...

By Bernard Yegiora PNG’s Foreign Policy White Paper 2025 is more than a statement of diplomatic priorities. It is a strategic document that seeks to explain how PNG should understand its place in the world, define its national interests, organise its foreign-policy institutions and translate policy commitments into practical action. A useful way to analyse the White Paper is through Allan Gyngell and Michael Wesley’s four levels of foreign policy making: the strategic, contextual, organisational and operational levels . Gyngell and Wesley’s four interrelated levels of foreign policy making—strategic, contextual, organisational and operational—which operate simultaneously in shaping foreign policy decisions and implementation. These four levels should not be treated as separate stages in a linear process. Gyngell and Wesley argue that foreign policy making occurs simultaneously across all four levels. Each level performs a different function, but all are interconnected. Focusing on onl...

By Bernard Yegiora Governor Allan Bird's recent comments on PNG's decision to close the Chinese Taipei Economic Office have reignited an important debate about the direction of our foreign policy. He argued that when a country becomes financially dependent on another, it risks compromising its trade relationships in favour of that creditor. Whether one agrees with his assessment or not, his comments raise a more fundamental foreign policy question: How should PNG engage Taiwan while remaining committed to the One China Policy? If I were Governor Allan Bird's foreign policy adviser, my advice would not be to abandon the One China Policy. Nor would it be to force PNG into choosing between Beijing and Taipei. Instead, I would advise him to revisit the foreign policy legacy of PNG's founding Prime Minister, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare. History Already Provides the Answer The Taiwan question is not new. It has been one of the most sensitive issues in China–PNG relat...

By Bernard Yegiora On Friday, 17 July 2026, students in PG428 Foreign Policy in PNG will participate in Week 3 Q&A Topic 1: Foreign Policy as an Extension of Domestic Policy . The session will examine how PNG’s internal development, governance, security, and institutional challenges shape its external relations under the Foreign Policy White Paper 2025 . The mini-lecture will be delivered by Mr. Lahui Ako , who will introduce the central argument that foreign policy does not operate separately from domestic policy. A country’s external behaviour is influenced by its internal priorities, political institutions, economic needs, security concerns, development challenges, and national ambitions. The main inquiry question for the session is: How does one domestic policy challenge shape PNG’s foreign policy under the Foreign Policy White Paper 2025? Moving Beyond Policy Summary The broader purpose of the Q&A activities is to help students move beyond merely summarising the Foreign Po...

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...