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James Marape, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (our photo), is committed to fighting corruption and reassessing his country's relations with foreign capitals. GORETHY KENNETH / AFP

Papua New Guinea has asked China to refinance all its public debt, in the order of seven billion euros. This request is likely to provoke anger from Australia and the United States who are trying to counter Chinese expansionism in the Pacific.

Less than two weeks after making his first official foreign visit to Australia since his arrival as head of the Papuan government, James Marape announced on Tuesday (August 6th) at a meeting in Port Moresby with the Ambassador of China, he had asked Beijing for help for refinancing the public debt of his country to raise 27 billion kinas (7.1 billion euros). Mr Marape " said that an official letter would be sent to the ambassador for him to transmit to Beijing, " said in a statement the Prime Minister's Office. In addition, the cabinet continues, " he suggested that the Bank of Papua New Guinea and the Bank of the People's Republic of China take the lead with the Treasury Department to launch the consultations. "

Fight corruption

Since his appointment, Mr. Marape has pledged to fight corruption and reassess his country's relations with foreign capitals and with multinationals engaged in the exploitation of the country's important mineral resources. The statement said the prime minister urged Beijing to conclude a free trade agreement with the Pacific states and encouraged China to boost investment in Papua in the logging, fishing and mining sectors.

Chinese Ambassador Xue Bing expressed concern that the next meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) will be held in Tuvalu, a small archipelago that continues to have diplomats with Taiwan, and not with Beijing. Jonathan Pryke, an expert on Pacific issues at the Lowy Institute, told AFP that this request, just after Australia rolled out the red carpet for Marape, was likely to spark from Canberra and Washington. " If China restructured all of Papua's debt, it would become Papua New Guinea's largest single donor, which would give it a very big influence on the country, " he said. " Nothing tells us that China will want to do it, but if it does, I expect it to demand significant concessions. "

China continues to strengthen its presence

The Chinese authorities have been steadily increasing their presence in the area with loans and infrastructure funding, prompting Canberra and Washington to launch their own charm offensive so as not to lose their traditional island allies.

( with AFP )