{"id":3095,"date":"2025-10-03T07:37:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T07:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/03\/papua-new-guinea-cabinet-signs-landmark-defence-treaty-with-australia\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T07:37:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T07:37:39","slug":"papua-new-guinea-cabinet-signs-landmark-defence-treaty-with-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/03\/papua-new-guinea-cabinet-signs-landmark-defence-treaty-with-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Papua New Guinea cabinet signs landmark defence treaty with Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>The Pukpuk Treaty is due to be signed soon by PNG Prime Minister James Marape and Australia\u2019s PM Anthony Albanese.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Papua New Guinea (PNG) has approved a mutual defence treaty with Australia in a major step forward for the landmark security deal.<\/p>\n<p>Papua New Guinea\u2019s Prime Minister James Marape announced in a statement on Thursday that his government cabinet had given its approval of the deal, and praised the \u201celevated\u201d ties with Australia.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/2\/france-detains-russian-shadow-tanker-to-disrupt-war-in-ukraine\">France detains Russian \u2018shadow\u2019 tanker to disrupt war in Ukraine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/2\/argentinas-congress-overturns-president-javier-mileis-veto-on-funding\">Argentina\u2019s Congress overturns President Javier Milei\u2019s veto on funding<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/3\/ban-israeli-football-scholars-urge-uefa-to-bar-israel-over-gaza-horrors\">\u2018Ban Israeli football\u2019: Scholars urge UEFA to bar Israel over Gaza horrors<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/3\/venezuela-slams-presence-of-us-f-35-fighter-planes-spotted-off-coast\">Venezuela slams presence of US F-35 fighter planes spotted off coast<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cThis reflects the depth of trust, history, and shared future between our two nations,\u201d Marape said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/17\/australia-png-delay-defence-pact-as-chinas-rise-in-pacific-region-looms\">The Pukpuk Treaty was originally set<\/a> to be signed in September to coincide with Papua New Guinea\u2019s 50th anniversary of independence, but Marape\u2019s cabinet failed to reach a quorum.<\/p>\n<p>Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on social media that he looked forward to signing the treaty and establishing a \u201cformal alliance\u201d with PNG.<\/p>\n<p>The text of the Pukpuk Treaty has not been made public, but some details were released in Marape\u2019s statement, including reference to a mutual defence clause, while laying out provisions for PNG to modernise its military capabilities and develop a national reserve force of 3,000 volunteers.<\/p>\n<p>The treaty will also create a path for 10,000 Papua New Guineans to serve in the Australian Defence Force, while PNG also aims to build up its defence force to\u00a07,000 troops, according to Marape\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>PNG has a population of more than 11 million people and is one of the most diverse countries in the world, according to the World Bank, but it also struggles with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/9\/16\/shootouts-near-gold-mine-in-papua-new-guinea-leave-at-least-20-dead-un\">recurring violence <\/a>among its more than 10,000 ethnic clans.<\/p>\n<p>Australia assumed control over PNG as a colonial power in 1902 and administered the country until 1975, but both sides have remained close since then, according to Jennifer Parker, an Australian defence expert.<\/p>\n<p>Parker told Al Jazeera the treaty looks set to codify the two countries\u2019 existing defence relationship and could earn Australia its first treaty ally in 70 years.<\/p>\n<p>Australia only has two official allies \u2013 the United States and New Zealand \u2013 under the 1951 ANZUS treaty, while PNG currently has none.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe won\u2019t know before we see the specifics of the treaty, but there is a view it will include a general obligation to support and defend each other,\u201d Parker told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>Justin Bassi, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the deal will also pave the way for \u201cAustralia to deepen its investment in [Papua New Guinea\u2019s] defence sector to meet emerging challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The treaty comes at a time when Australia is wary of China\u2019s growing presence in the Pacific and amid concerns that it could establish a military base in the region, according to Parker.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Canberra\u2019s concerns, the treaty will also include provisions to respect \u201cthird-party\u201d defence relationships between Port Moresby and other countries, according to Marape\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>That phrasing appears to be a tacit reference to China, which is one of PNG\u2019s most important trading partners and a source of foreign direct investment.<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese embassy in Port Moresby said in September that PNG should \u201cuphold its independence\u201d and not sign a treaty that is \u201cexclusive in nature\u201d and restricts it \u201cfrom cooperating with a third party\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pukpuk Treaty is due to be signed soon by PNG Prime Minister James Marape and Australia\u2019s PM Anthony Albanese. Papua New Guinea (PNG) has approved a mutual defence treaty with Australia in a major step forward for the landmark security deal. Papua New Guinea\u2019s Prime Minister James Marape announced in a statement on Thursday &#8230; <a title=\"Papua New Guinea cabinet signs landmark defence treaty with Australia\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/03\/papua-new-guinea-cabinet-signs-landmark-defence-treaty-with-australia\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Papua New Guinea cabinet signs landmark defence treaty with Australia\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}