US President Biden calls Papua New Guinea leader after cancelling meeting
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Papua New Guinea PM James Marape said the US President had called and invited him to a US-Pacific island summit in Washington in September.
PHOTO: AFP
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PORT MORESBY - US President Joe Biden telephoned his Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape on Thursday, after cancelling a historic meeting in the Pacific island nation, to tell him Secretary of State Antony Blinken would travel in his place, the two leaders said.
Pacific island leaders will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a high-level United States delegation in Papua New Guinea on Monday.
Mr Biden pulled out of the visit to Papua New Guinea because of debt ceiling negotiations
The US President had been expected to meet 18 leaders from the region’s main bloc, the Pacific Islands Forum, and sign a defence cooperation pact with Papua New Guinea
Mr Marape told a press conference on Thursday that Mr Biden had called him and invited him to a US-Pacific island summit in Washington
“I was privileged on behalf of the people that (Biden) placed a call directly to my cellphone... He conveyed his sincerest apologies that he cannot make it to our country,” Mr Marape said, adding that Mr Biden said Mr Blinken would travel in his place.
Mr Biden called from Air Force One, the White House said in a statement, to personally convey that he was unable to travel to Papua New Guinea because of the need to ensure the Congress took action to avert a default.
“The President emphasised continued US commitment to the renewed partnership with the Pacific Islands,” the statement said.
Mr Marape said a defence cooperation agreement with the US had been scrutinised by the Papua New Guinea government solicitor and would be signed on Monday, before being presented in Parliament.
He said two agreements focusing on defence cooperation and maritime surveillance had been agreed on with Washington and would be formally signed at the earliest opportunity after parliamentary approval.
“We are elevating to a specific defence cooperation agreement, something that is falling short of a treaty,” he told a press conference.
“We are moving ahead; we are signing with the best military on the face of planet Earth.”
A man reading a newspaper report on the cancellation of a visit to Papua New Guinea by US President Joe Biden in Port Moresby on May 18.
PHOTO: AFP
Despite criticism from some opposition politicians that the deal could upset the country’s trade with China, Mr Marape said the US pact would not compromise his government’s foreign policy of “friends to all, enemies to none”.
A framework pact would be signed, and the details of “how we deal with boots on the ground, how we deal with contractors on the ground, how we deal with airport-related issues, port-related issues, those will be worked upon”, he said.
Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka arrived in Papua New Guinea on Thursday, ahead of the Pacific leaders’ meeting with India’s Mr Modi on regional cooperation.
The leaders will meet a US delegation on Monday for talks on “areas of cooperation and challenges critical to the region and the US”, Fiji officials said.
In a statement, Mr Rabuka’s office said: “The meeting demonstrates the US and Pacific’s deep historical and people-to-people ties.” Action on climate change, protection of maritime resources and economic growth were priorities, it added.
The chairman of the Pacific Islands Forum, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, said he welcomed increased engagement by the larger countries in the Pacific as an opportunity to discuss and articulate regional challenges.
Analysts said the cancellation of Mr Biden’s visit, which would have been the first by an incumbent US president to an independent Pacific islands nation, could damage Washington’s credibility amid competition for influence with China in the strategic region.
“The Chinese are at least happy for now,” the PNG Post Courier wrote in an editorial on Thursday.
The White House statement said Mr Biden had told Mr Marape that the Pacific island leaders could continue discussions in Washington on “shared priorities including combating the climate crisis, increasing trade and economic ties, promoting maritime security, advancing sustainable and inclusive development”. REUTERS
