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SYDNEY: A defense deal to be signed this week could see Papua New Guineans serve in the Australian military, Canberra said on Monday, the pact seen as an attempt to counter Beijing’s rising Pacific influence.
The fresh defense agreement will be signed by Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and James Marape on Wednesday in Port Moresby, part of celebrations to mark 50 years of Papua New Guinea’s independence from Australia.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles described the deal as “historic.”
He said Australia’s military had been open to foreign nationals from New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States since last year.
“At the time we said we would have an eye to the Pacific,” he told national broadcaster ABC.
“The agreement that we will sign with PNG contemplates this,” he said.
“There’s more work to be done in terms of walking down that path, but we certainly are interested in how we can recruit Papua New Guineans directly into the ADF,” Marles added, referring to Australia’s military.
The agreement follows an overarching security agreement signed between the two countries in 2023.
Australian media said the deal would enable Papua New Guinea nationals to serve in the Australian Defense Force with the same pay as other members and start a pathway to citizenship.
Speaking in Port Moresby on Monday, Albanese said the deal was an “upgrade in the relationship and its increased interoperability, its increased engagement and security relationship,” according to ABC.
Asked about concerns the deal could violate Papua New Guinea’s sovereignty, he said “people will get to see the agreement, what Australia does is deal with countries with respect and respect for sovereignty is front and center of that.”
Papua New Guinea’s Defense Minister Billy Joseph said the deal “promotes regional security.”
“A secure Papua New Guinea is a secure Australia, and a secure Australia is a secure Papua New Guinea,” he said.
Less than 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Australia’s northernmost border, Papua New Guinea is the largest and most populous state in Melanesia.
China has committed billions of dollars to Pacific nations over the past decade, funding hospitals, sports stadiums, roads and other public works.
It is an approach that appears to be paying dividends.
Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Nauru have all severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China in recent years.
Canberra has stepped up its engagement with the region in a bid to counter Beijing’s influence.
Albanese was in Vanuatu last week to discuss a deal aimed at deepening Australia’s links to the Pacific nation.
However, the deal was not signed, with Prime Minister Jotham Napat citing concerns that its wording would limit Vanuatu’s ability to access funds for “critical infrastructure” from other nations.

NEW DELHI: Indian security forces killed a top Maoist commander and two other rebels in a gunbattle on Monday, officials said, as the government intensifies efforts to crush the decades-long conflict.
India is waging an all-out offensive against the last remaining traces of the Naxalite rebellion, named after the village in the foothills of the Himalayas where the Maoist-inspired guerrilla movement began nearly six decades ago.
More than 12,000 rebels, soldiers and civilians have been killed since a handful of villagers rose up against their feudal lords there in 1967.
The latest gunbattle took place early Monday in the mineral-rich eastern state of Jharkhand, India’s Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) said in a statement.
The federal police described the operation as a “major breakthrough.”
Three “top Naxal commanders” were killed in the fight, the CRPF said, including Sahdev Soren, who was part of the central committee of the Maoist organization.
Authorities had issued a bounty of around $113,000 for his capture.
Last week, forces killed another Maoist commander and nine others in a fierce gunbattle along the forested border between the states of Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
The Indian government has vowed to crush the rebellion by end of the March next year.
The rebellion controlled nearly a third of the country with an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 fighters at its peak in the mid-2000s.
A crackdown by Indian troops across the “Red Corridor” has killed more than 400 rebels since last year, according to government data.
The group’s chief, Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, was gunned down in May, along with 26 other guerrillas.
The conflict has also seen several deadly attacks on government forces. A roadside bomb killed at least nine Indian troops in January.