Transcript
JOHNNY BLADES: So at the summit there was a cluster of announcements of aid and development projects in PNG. For instance, New Zealand announced that it would be joining this big project to provide electricity to something like 70 percent of PNG's population - electricity is greatly needed over there and greatly lacking. New Zealand will be joining Australia, the United States and Japan in implementing that project. So New Zealand is contributing about 14 million US dollars of a total project bill of about 1.2 billion US dollars. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also announced another 7 million US dollars for immunisation campaigns in PNG. Obviously it's a response to ongoing problems with old diseases like polio re-emerging. But also the US vice president, Mike Pence, who was representing the country in the absence of President Trump, announced that the Americans will be joining this plan to develop a big naval base on PNG's Manus Island. That's a plan with PNG and Australia. Apparently it's PNG's initiative but that is very much seen as working to counter China's rising influence in the region, if you will.
TIM GLASGOW: China's president Xi Jinping arrived a day or two before this summit and seemed to grab a lot of the attention as he presided over the opening of some big Chinese development projects.
JB: Yeah, he did. And one of those projects was this big six-lane road in Port Moresby and there was much fanfare around his presence there, because unlike President Trump or Russia's president, Xi actually turned up to the summit. He was certainly feted by PNG's government. And in fact there were Chinese flags all around the city - it was as if it was a small part of China. So it's clear that China really has this significant and growing influence in PNG. It was really evident during the APEC summit.
TG: So is this some sort of bidding war between China on one hand, and the US and Australia on the other?
JB: It sort of has that ring to it. But PNG's Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato has been at pains to say look, it's not a bidding war, and that PNG is friend to everyone and enemies to no one, and that it has a right to choose between development partners. PNG really has looked to capitalise on this summit with these two sides almost vying for influence in not just the Pacific but especially in PNG with its strategic value.
TG: The PNG Foreign Minister was also at the centre of an alleged incident involving Chinese officials, right?
JB: So apparently Rimbink Pato was in his office overseeing the drafting of the summit's statement. There was a lot of conjecture about that because there ae a number of matters on trade over which Chinese was not happy with the wording in that statement. Four Chinese officials were reportedly trying to see Mr Pato at this time. he wasn't able to see them because he said he had to remain impartial in his position as chair of the APEC Ministerial meeting. So he wasn't able to see them but they reportedly barged in, according to the ABC. PNG officials called security and the Chinese had to leave. But Mr Pato's office has denied that there was any issue as such. They said that once the Chinese understood why Mr Pato couldn't see them, because he had to be impartial, they left and there was no trouble. But it has been interpreted in sections of the Australian media at least as a sign that China is perhaps bullying or pushing its weight around. But the friction between China and the US on trade was very evident at this summit and that's why at the end of this summit, the leaders weren't able to issue their normal communiqué. PNG's prime minister Peter O'Neill conceded that the impasse between the two big powers meant there could be no communiqué. In his closing comments, Mr O'Neill said APEC members would still work to try and ensure "free and open trade" in the region by 2020.
TG: And there were reports that China actually imposed some restrictions on media while at APEC...
JB: There were a least two instances when Chinese officials reportedly barred both local and international (accredited) journalists from attending events at this summit. It happened with Xi's meeting with Pacific islands leaders on the sideline of the summit which was a huge opportunity you might think and yet media weren't allowed to cover it. That's why there's a scarcity of detail about that meeting, what came out of it. But also again, it's just adding to concern that China is less than open in the way it operates.
