Deal opens door for US troops in Papua New Guinea
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, with Win Bakri Daki, Papua New Guinea’s defence minister, with James Marape, the prime minister, standing
ADEK BERRY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The United States has signed a defence agreement with Papua New Guinea in a sign of the growing importance of formerly obscure Pacific nations in the strategic competition between China and the West.
Details have not been published, but the emphasis is on humanitarian assistance and relief after natural disasters. The deal also will smooth the way for American troops to be deployed to Papua New Guinea in a military crisis.
The agreement would make it easy for the two countries’ forces “to train together in new ways and in more places as part of our joint effort to uphold peace and security across the Indo-Pacific”, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said as he signed it along with James Marape, the country’s prime
