Xi raises the influence stakes Ben PackhamNovember 16, 2018...

Xi raises the influence stakes
Ben PackhamNovember 16, 2018

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, right, and China's President Xi Jinping in Port Moresby on Friday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has raised the stakes in the battle for influence in the Pacific, sealing a new US$300 million soft-loan deal with Papua New Guinea, greenlighting a $1.5 billion PNG nickel mine extension, and signing a raft of agreements to boost infrastructure investment, trade and technical co-operation with Australia’s nearest neighbour.

In an eight-page memorandum of understanding signed by Mr Xi and PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, the leaders also agreed to the free movement of politicians and diplomats between the two countries, while China vowed to start work on a new university in Mr O’Neill’s home province.

President Xi is using a state visit to PNG ahead of this weekend’s APEC summit in Port Moresby - which US President Donald Trump decided to skip - to launch a massive power play in Australia’s strategic backyard.

Earlier, Mr Xi was treated to a full military honour guard and 21-gun salute at PNG’s parliament, before opening a new six-lane ceremonial road and promising “many more roads to prosperity, openness and friendship” in the region.

The new China Development Bank loan facility includes a three year repayment holiday.

The value of the loan was not included on the document, but PNG Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Charles Abel said it was worth US$300 million.


People wave as China's President Xi Jinping's motorcade leaves the Butuka Academy school in Port Moresby.
The money will be made available through the PNG budget and must be used for China-approved infrastructure and resources projects.

The document also approves Chinese investment, estimated at about US$1.5b to extend the majority Chinese-owned Ramu nickel mine.

The first item in the agreement allows visa-free travel for each nation’s politicians and diplomats into the other country - a right PNG MPs do not have with Australia.

The hotly anticipated MOU between the leaders came ahead of a meeting between President Xi and seven other Pacific Island leaders today, where further investment announcements were expected.

President Xi arrived in PNG last night, ahead of this weekend’s APEC leaders’ meeting, where he has been greeted by hundreds of fluttering red flags and giant welcome signs.

The China-funded Independence Boulevard, dubbed by critics as a “road to nowhere”, runs from the nation’s parliament to a nearby Port Moresby suburb.

The Lowy Institute’s Jonathan Pryke, who is in Port Moresby for APEC, said Beijing was “not messing around” in the region.


President Xi Jinping inspects the guard of honour at Parliament House in Port Moresby.
“They’re not building relationships, they’re buying them,” he said. “They are out there all over the place, engaging aggressively with the Pacific region,” he said.

He said Beijng’s growing influence, on the back of surging investment, aid and diplomatic manoeuvring, was threatening Australia’s role as the traditional partner of South Pacific nations.

“We should be anxious that our position of primacy in the region is really being contested,” Mr Pryke said.

“We know we have to up our game, and we’re going to have to keep upping it. Because China is not standing still, it’s full steam ahead.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/ne...l/news-story/f3b9d326a10af58090453fc11a93892c