Lloyd Austin will become the first US Secretary of Defense to visit the island nation of Papua New Guinea during his eighth trip to the Indo- Pacific .
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| Papua New Guinea will welcome US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin next week. (Source: Breaking Defense) |
During his visit to Port Moresby on July 26, Defence Minister Lloyd Austin will meet Prime Minister James Marape, his counterpart Win Bakri Daki, Deputy Defence Minister Hari John Akipe and Chief of Defence Force, Major General Mark Goina.
The Pentagon chief will discuss follow-up measures after the two sides signed the US-Papua New Guinea Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) last May, during a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Papua New Guinea.
Prime Minister James Marape said the new deal would boost economic security by giving his country's defence forces "the ability to know what is happening in their waters, something Papua New Guinea has not had since 1975".
According to Breaking Defense , the upcoming visit of the US Defense Secretary is a sign that Washington appreciates the importance of Port Moresby after many signs showed that neighboring Solomon Islands continues to look to China as a key partner.
In just his second press conference in four years, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has accused Australia and the United States of being “unfriendly” and not doing enough to help his country.
The Solomon leader made the comments after returning from a visit to Beijing, where he met President Xi Jinping and signed nine agreements and memorandums of understanding, including a police cooperation plan.
The growing security relationship between the Solomon Islands and China has raised alarm bells in the United States, especially after the two sides secretly signed a security pact.
During Prime Minister Sogavare's visit to Beijing, Xi Jinping said China would do more to support the small but strategically important Pacific nation.
“China is supporting more Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in the Solomon Islands, and will continue to provide economic and technical support to the country without any political strings attached,” Xi said.
After concluding his Port Moresby visit, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will travel to Australia to meet with his counterpart Richard Marles and attend the 33rd Australia-US Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
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