VOA Asia Weekly: US and Papua New Guinea Sign New Security Pact
Metadata
- VOA Asia Weekly: US and Papua New Guinea Sign New Security Pact
- May 25, 2023
- South Korean nuclear experts tour closed Fukushima plant. China bans chips from US company Micron Technology. Security pact will give US access to Papua New Guinea's waters. First-ever double above-the-knee amputee summits Mt. Everest.
- Content Type Program
- Language English
- Transcript/Script A defense deal with Papua New Guinea shows just how much Washington needs military cooperation in the Pacific Islands. Welcome to VOA Asia Weekly. I'm Jessica Stone in Washington. That story is just ahead, but first, making headlines. South Korean nuclear experts toured the shuttered Fukushima nuclear power plant this week. The 21 member team was sent to inspect the process the Japanese utility TEPCO says it’s going to clean the wastewater stored after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami damaged the plant in 2011. The Korean public has been protesting TEPCO’s plan to release one million tonnes of treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. China ordered its infrastructure companies to stop using chips made by the US company Micron Technology. The directive came hours after the G7 in Hiroshima Japan released a statement criticizing China’s coercive economic policies, pledging to counter its efforts to distort the global economy and calling on Beijing to avoid unilateral attempts to take territory by force. China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao is set to meet with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in the US in the coming days. The World Health Organization holds its annual assembly this week in Switzerland – without Taiwan. China and Pakistan had urged members to reject Taipei’s inclusion. The Marshall Islands spoke in favor of allowing Taiwan to join. Beijing welcomed the WHO decision on the self-governing island that China considers its own territory. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – getting a red-carpet welcome in Sydney Australia. Modi met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to announce a new center for Australia-India relations and increased cooperation on defense and commerce. Australia is eager to increase trade with India as a means of diversifying from China – its largest trading partner. A progressive political coalition in Thailand – signed an agreement to draft a new constitution that would recognize same-sex marriage and end military conscription except in emergencies. The Move Forward Party leading that alliance which has yet to mention revisions to a law that punishes perceived insults of the monarchy with up to 15 years in jail. The party pledged to amend that measure – during its election campaign. The United States and Papua New Guinea have agreed to sign a security pact, part of which is expected to give the US vital access to the pacific island nation’s waters. VOA’s Ahadian Utama reports from Port Morseby. U.S. President Joe Biden has shifted attention to the Pacific over concerns about China’s increasing influence in the region, as Beijing has been giving diplomatic and financial assistance to some Pacific nations. Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says agreements with Washington that focus on defense cooperation and maritime matters will be formally signed after parliamentary approval. “Now we’re elevating to a specific defense cooperation agreement, something that is falling short of treaty. And so this has been an ongoing work for some time. The conversation has been running for the last five, six, seven years. We’ve now looked into the importance of USA-PNG stepping up in our relationship.” The defense and maritime agreements will allow the U.S. access to waters near the sea routes to Australia and Japan. In return, Papua New Guinea will gain access to U.S. satellite surveillance. “The Shiprider agreement, for instance, allows for us to have a working partnership with U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. With the U.S. Coast Guard, it now give us an opportune time to access — not just maritime access but satellite access — to illegal fishing, drug traffickers, illegal loggers and all those illegal transportations and activities that happen on the high seas.” Elias Wohengu, Papua New Guinea Foreign Affairs secretary, led the negotiations and says the pact will not prevent Papua New Guinea from engaging with other nations. “We are within the ambit of the foreign policy expected of Papua New Guinea: friends to all, enemies to none. This agreement does not in any preclude PNG from engaging with another nation in a future defense cooperation agreement.” Analysts say this pact will raise concerns over U.S.-China rivalry in the region and potentially put Pacific Island nations in the middle of U.S.-China tension. In 2022, the Solomon Islands agreed to sign a security pact with China. “Obviously, there comes a point where one has to be careful if those different external players reach heightened levels of tension and PNG and its neighbors can be caught in the midst of it.” Ahadian Utama, VOA News, Papua New Guinea. And finally, “Nothing is impossible!” That’s the mantra for the first double amputee to summit Mount Everest. Nepalese war veteran Hari Budha Magar has made history by becoming the first ever double-above-the-knee amputee to reach the top of the world's tallest mountain. He lost both of his legs while serving Afghanistan. Budha Magar reached the top of Mount Everest – on a pair of prosthetic legs. He grew up in Nepal dreaming of climbing the 88-hundred meter high mountain, and says quote “nothing can stop us from achieving our dream.” Visit voanews.com for the most up-to-date stories. Thanks for watching VOA Asia Weekly. I’m Jessica Stone. Until next week.
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Program Name VOA Asia Weekly
- Network VOA
- Expiration Date June 24, 2023 15:58 EDT
- Embargo Date May 25, 2023 16:03 EDT
- Byline Jessica Stone
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America - English