Rugby deal signed between Australia and PNG to curb China’s influence

Papua New Guinea (PNG) will join Australia’s national rugby league competition after signing a deal that requires them to avoid security ties with China.

The Pacific nation has produced many Australian National Rugby League (NRL) stars and has long been lobbying to join the franchise.

Australia will contribute 600 million Australian dollars (301 million pounds, 384 million dollars) over ten years to create the team, which will be based in Port Moresby and compete from 2028, and will help develop the game at the level of base throughout the Pacific region.

In return, PNG signed a separate pact which it says reaffirms its commitment to Australia as its main security partner.

The precise terms of the dual agreements are confidential, but the BBC understands they allow Australia to withdraw funds if PNG signs a security agreement with a nation outside the so-called “Pacific family”. That term is widely accepted to exclude China, despite Beijing’s efforts to gain a foothold in the region.

If Canberra withdraws, the NRL will be forced to abandon the PNG team.

Announcing the agreement in Sydney on Thursday, PNG Prime Minister James Marape said it was a “monumental” opportunity for his country, and aimed to foster “unity”, not just among PNG’s 830 language groups, but also between the nation at large and its closest neighbor.

“For us, it’s not just about sport and sports commerce, it’s about… uniting the most diverse nation on the face of planet Earth and also uniting PNG-Australia in the ways that matter most, people to people “, said. he told reporters.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared it a “great day” for both countries and said PNG, the only country in the world where rugby league is the national sport, “deserves” a place in the league.

“The new team will belong to the people of Papua New Guinea… And I know it will have millions of proud fans who will support it from day one,” Albanese said.

It’s also a big milestone for the NRL. This is the first time the contest, which attempts to attract international audiences, has expanded abroad. The only other foreign team, the New Zealand Warriors, has been part of the competition since its inception almost three decades ago.

NRL boss Peter V’landys had been championing PNG’s bid, arguing it was a great opportunity for the league as well as PNG’s economic development.

The name and uniform of the new team will be decided later.

Stuart Murray, associate professor of international relations, told the BBC that while Australia’s use of sport as a diplomatic strategy is nothing new, this agreement is unprecedented.

Over the past decade, the country has been “thinking innovatively about how to combine sport with policy to counter classic security threats”, said Dr Murray of Bond University.

In this case, he added, “the scale, the size, the scope and the funding, and the fact that it is being supported at such a high level by both prime ministers, is something that has never been done before.”

“Basically, through this channel, we will open another 20 or 30 more channels: for business, trade, surveillance, educational exchange, gender work, climate change… I think it’s fantastic.”

Australia and China have been competing for greater influence in the Pacific in recent years. After Beijing signed a major police deal with the Solomon Islands in 2022, Australia has spent years trying to forge exclusive security pacts with countries across the region, including a police deal with Tuvalu last year and a treaty with Nauru unveiled earlier. of this week.

The pact with PNG, which declared independence from Australia in 1975, has been hailed by some as another major strategic victory for Australia.

“In recent years, with increased geopolitical interest and engagement in the Pacific, something that many other medium and large powers have struggled to achieve is getting Papua New Guinea to an exclusivity agreement for security partnerships,” he said. Oliver Nobetau. , a PNG government lawyer turned policy analyst at the Lowy Institute think tank.

Both prime ministers have sought to downplay the security aspect of the agreements, presenting them instead as a boon for what Nobetau says has been a “weakened” relationship between the two countries.

Marape stressed that the agreement “does not prevent us from interacting with any nation, especially with our Asian neighbors.”

“We have a relationship with China, for example, a great trading partner, a great bilateral partner,” he said. “But in terms of security, closer to home… our shared territory needs to be protected, defended, policed… together.”

Government sources say the agreements do not give Australia veto power over PNG security arrangements. But its formulation has the effect of eliminating almost all other potential partners, and Nobetau said some in PNG could see the announcement as “an exercise of Australian power over PNG sovereignty”.

Both he and Dr Murray also point out, however, that the dual agreements speak to an emerging “transactional” dynamic in Pacific relations.

“People who talk about goodwill and who say sport and politics don’t mix, that’s the view of the 20th century,” Dr Murray said. “For us it is impossible to give away one of our most precious cultural assets. That does not happen in diplomacy.”

Dr Murray and Mr Nobetau also agree that the agreements mark a significant moment in bilateral relations between the two countries and are a likely indicator of how Australia will continue to implement its agenda across the region.

“China invests a lot of money in sports infrastructure… which is something China is good at… (but) China will not offer any alternative in this space,” Nobetau said.

“It’s something other countries can’t do,” Dr. Murray added. “We need to use it, especially in a very, very contested region like the Pacific.”