MELBOURNE, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday was unable to clinch an ambitious defense treaty with Papua New Guinea during a visit to the country, a week after he failed to land a security pact with another South Pacific island neighbor, Vanuatu, aimed at curbing China’s influence in the region.
The diplomatic setbacks come ahead of his potential first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump next week where regional security will be on the agenda.
Albanese had announced that the bilateral treaty with Papua New Guinea would be signed during his three-day visit to the country’s capital of Port Moresby that ended Wednesday.
But a Papua New Guinea Cabinet meeting scheduled for Monday to endorse the treaty never took place.
Instead of signing the treaty, Albanese and his Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape released a communique on Wednesday that said the text had been agreed on and the document would be signed “following Cabinet processes in both countries.”
Albanese had similarly expected to sign a bilateral security and economic treaty during a visit to Vanuatu on Sept. 9, but left the country with an assurance that negotiations would continue.
Vanuatuan Prime Minister Jotham Napat said last week there were concerns within his government that the treaty could limit Vanuatu’s ability to raise money for critical infrastructure from any third country, such as China.
Albanese on Wednesday rejected a reporter’s suggestion that he was overreaching by trying to persuade countries to sign deals they were not ready for.
“Democracies aren’t the same as authoritarian regimes. They go through processes. We respect them,” Albanese said.
“Processes are important and sovereignty’s important and we respect it and Papua New Guinea will go through its Cabinet processes, but we have … agreed on the words in this treaty,” he added.
Questioned by a reporter, Marape said he was not concerned that China would use the delay to lobby his ministers to scuttle the treaty.
“Please let’s give respect to China,” Marape said. “This (delay) is in no way, shape or form (because) Chinese have any hand in saying: Don’t do this, etc.”
Marape declined to say whether all his ministers agreed the treaty should go ahead, citing Cabinet confidentiality.
“There is no sticking point,” Marape said.
The pact would elevate Papua New Guinea to become Australia’s third security alliance partner after the United States and New Zealand.
Australia has stepped up efforts to bolster relations with island nations in the region since 2022, when Beijing struck a security deal with Solomon Islands that has raised the prospect of a Chinese naval base being established in the South Pacific.
Albanese is expected to seek his first in-person meeting with Trump when the prime minister travels to New York next week to attend the United Nations General Assembly. Albanese’s office has not confirmed meeting plans.
Trump recently told reporters outside the White House that Albanese was “coming over to see me very soon.”
At the time, Trump was berating Australian Broadcasting Corp. America’s Editor John Lyons over questions he asked about Trump family business dealings.
“In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now and they want to get along with me. You know your leader is coming over to see me very soon. I’m going to tell him about you. You set a very bad tone,” Trump told Lyons.
Lyons later told ABC, a state-funded broadcaster, he expected Trump and Albanese would meet in New York City next week.
“I believe that they will have the meeting and I hope that, you know, that my two or three questions about legitimate public interest shouldn’t, in my view, in any way impact upon what they decide,” Lyons said.
“So President Trump’s suggestion that I’m hurting Australia, I think, is an absurd suggestion,” Lyons added.
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