The Pacific island nations at the center of a US-China corporate conflict that has provided funding and infrastructure hope that President-elect Donald Trump stays involved in the region, but diplomats warn that competition could lead to conflict.
According to PNG Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko, who officially disclosed an investment number for the US defense package for the first time, a 2023 defense agreement that gave the US military entry to slots and airfields across Papua New Guinea included a pledge of US$ 3.5 billion in system, technology, and training.
He also stated at a assets meeting in Sydney this week that Papua New Guinea will continue to trade with China, perhaps as US military relationships grow, underscoring a pressing issue for Pacific leaders with Trump’s tougher stance toward Beijing.
” The main problem is the Pacific doesn’t want to be forced into a place where it has to choose”, Meg Taylor, the secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum local alliance during the first Trump Administration, told Reuters.
US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell stated last month that Washington and China were engaged in “acute corporate competition” in the Pacific Ocean, where Beijing wants to establish a military center.
He urged the approaching Trump Administration to stay in the area, where Biden has increased coast guard guards and assistance and has opened offices.
Biden wanted to catch up with China’s influence-building in the South Pacific despite the US’s long-standing defense ties to the northern Pacific archipelago near to its military base in Guam.
Next month, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited Fiji and sparked discussions over a defense deal. In response to a alliance between China and the Solomon Islands, the most popular Pacific island nation, PNG signed a defense agreement last year.