Taiwan Office In Papua New Guinea Open Despite Sudden Forced Closure Notice
Taiwan's economic office in Papua New Guinea was still reachable by phone on Friday, despite sudden orders from the Pacific Island nation's foreign ministry to shut down the day before. Analysts says that the move could be a bargaining chip to win favor with China, after upsetting Beijing with a defense treaty with Australia last year.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Papua New Guinea's foreign minister announces that the government is closing Taiwan’s economic office there, reaffirming the country’s support for Beijing’s “one China” policy.
It's a surprise decision that Taiwan's foreign ministry says they didn't see coming.
But they said the economic office there will continue to operate as usual. The office in Papua New Guinea picked up the phone when TaiwanPlus called on Friday, but they had no comment in terms of how much longer operations might continue.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's Vice President said the country would continue to seek opportunities on the international stage.
BI-KHIM HSIAO, TAIWAN VICE PRESIDENT (Taipei)
China is suppressing our existence and shutting down opportunities to expand our international reach. This is a setback for us, but we will continue to strive for opportunities for our overseas compatriots and to continuously expand our international cooperation.
Analysts say it may be difficult for Taiwan to keep a presence in Papua New Guinea, despite Taiwan's attempts to communicate with the government. But they said the move may not indicate the Pacific Island country's deepening ties with Beijing... instead the opposite.
GRAEME SMITH, SENIOR FELLOW, DEPARTMENT OF PACIFIC AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY (Canberra)
PNG lately has made some moves that weren't very well received in Beijing, um, particularly the defense treaty with Australia. Um, and before that, the defense Cooperation agreement with the United States. Um, and both of those things went down very badly. And I think this move to limit Taiwan's diplomatic space is mostly about doing something to say, look, we're still your friend. We still want to work with you. Uh, and the easiest way, sadly to do that for PNG was to kick Taiwan.
The 2025 defense treaty with Australia was seen as a move by Canberra to counter Beijing’s presence in the Pacific Islands.
Now, Taiwan may have been viewed as a bargaining tool in smoothing over relations with China... but analysts say there is still some hope for Taiwan to maintain its presence in Papua New Guinea.
OLIVER NOBETAU, DIRECTOR, PACIFIC ISLANDS PROGRAM, LOWY INSTITUTE (Sydney)
In the same way that, you know, international pressures may have led to this decision being made. There's also a way that international pressure could also try and maintain Taiwanese presence in PNG as well.
For now, Taiwan will be trying to keep as much of its presence in Port Moresby... and across the Pacific as possible.
