In 2019 after succeeding Peter O’Neil, Prime Minister James Marape’s declared a foreign policy shift from PNGs Traditional Partners (Australia, US and China) towards South East Asia. The new foreign policy approach was based on his vision as PNGs new leader to start a new beginning for the country. He stated after taking power in his speech at the Lowy Institute on the 25th of July 2019 about his dream for PNG to become the richest Black Christian state in the world.
Now to be that richest state in the world seems implausible in a struggling economy with many challenges arising within. However, from what Marape mentioned during his speech is quite promising and speaks a great tone for a new Papua New Guinea.
On the other hand, the foreign policy shift might have been assumed by many to be just an approach with no proper documentation and can cause fragile partnerships with PNGs traditional partners. However, the new foreign policy shift will not affect or change PNGs relationships with its traditional partners. The primary focus of this piece centers around the PNG-Australia Partnership because the Marape foreign policy shift was built on carving PNG’s profound economic reliance on Australia.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary (2020) defines the term traditional as “following or conforming to tradition: adhering to past practices or established conventions.” Marape stated in his speech “no bilateral relationship is more important than our relationship with Australia.” PNGs relationship with Australia is rooted back in history where it was established under certain commonalities. The two states share a family like bond where Australia can be seen as the big brother and PNG to be the little brother in its obvious sense. Gedare (1994) argued that PNGs relationship with Australia is dependent because of the economic input (trade and investment), education and as the main source of skilled manpower recruitment pivotal. At some point, this is a classical scenario of what a big brother does to support the smaller one from enhancing growth. Since Independence, some studies (Gedare, 1994) and (Mitna, 2018) have argued evidently that Australia’s influence in PNG is dominant due to factors such as economic and foreign policy decision making. However, over the years the aid provided for by Australia has been continuously massive. According to the PNG High Commission in Canberra (n.d),
“PNG’s relations with Australia goes back to the colonial administration era from 1949 to its proclamation of political independence on 16 September 1975. Our geographical proximity, cultural connections and people-to-people links goes back to prehistorical times.’’
This is the fundamental core of the PNG-Australia partnership and why Australia has always been commonly referred to as a traditional partner.
Moreover, as stated above Marepes foreign policy shift has been argued to be just an approach rather than a strategy compared to Peter O’Neil’s policy (PNG Connect in a Globalized World). This debate puts weight on Marapes foreign policy not polishing any particularized written paper, simply as that. The sweet thing about this hitch pushes away any notion of PNG cutting free from Australia’s influence. Even so, it does supplement to the debate that PNG-Australia relationship stands affirm regardless of Marapes foreign policy shift. In Mitna (2018, p.1-2) when Bill Skates was Prime Minister in 1999, he secretly made a Diplomatic deal involving 2.3 billion US dollars aid, soft loans and investments in return for diplomatic recognition. Nevertheless, this deal never lasted when Sir Mekere Moruata succeeded Skates: after warnings from Australia claiming the deal to be not in line with Australia and PNG’s national interest. Does PNG and Australia have the same national interests? Why was Moruata so quick to not follow Skates unilateral decision? The answer to these questions is simple: because the PNG foreign policy was never good enough with no detailed documentation. Skates made a decision from his own reasons to construct that deal but was easily reversed by Moruata claiming the deals failure to follow the standard procedures for opening diplomatic relations with other countries, which have applied since independence (Mitna, 2018, p.2). Relatively, Marapes foreign policy shift towards South East Asia is a unilateral decision based on nothing being planned strategically. If Australia can sway away Skates secured deal than the foreign policy shift decision can be like a child’s English homework. Even though the whole idea behind the foreign shift was to attain economic independence from Australia but during the Pandemic Marapes government yet relied on Australia amid the Covid-19 pandemic. According to ABC News (May 20th 2020) out of Australia’s $100m to assist the governments of struggling countries in the Pacific, PNG received $20.5m which was the largest amount. Additionally, the figure came on top of a $440m loan from Australia’s Federal Government in 2019. The repayment of the loan was put on hold allowing the aid budget which is the $20.5m to assist the Marape government. From the “big brother-small brother” perspective, PNG received more than the other Pacific countries: not only that but almost half a billion dollars loan was put on hold. It is interesting, Marape would have looked elsewhere for aid during the crisis but Australia barged in the door with the aid package like every big brother would always do when the small brother is in trouble or has caused one.
From a neo-classical realist perception, Australia understood the cause of the foreign policy shift. According to Ripsman.N. (2011) “Neoclassical realism is an approach to foreign policy analysis that seeks to understand international politics by taking into account the nature of the international system—the political environment within which states interact.” After taking Parliament Marape stated
“No relationship is stronger and more important than the PNG-Australia relationship,”
and the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison telephoned him and said,
“Spoke to new PNG Prime Minister James Marape today to congratulate him and wish him well. PNG is Australia’s closest neighbour and our two countries have always had a special relationship. Looking forward to working closely with him on our many shared interests.”
The conversation between the two state leaders speak a massive volume pertaining any inconveniences that may arise to hinder the PNG-Australia Partnership. Skates deal was cancelled because it was not in line with both states (Australia and PNG) national interest and Morrison similarly sated about having many shared interests. The political environment Marape is pursuing to interact in has been clearly taken into consideration by Australia. It is obvious Marape just wants to enhance the economy of the country by focusing more and Agriculture and make PNG the food basket of the region or make PNG the richest Black Christian nation on earth. Either way, whether Marape succeeds with his vision or vise-versa Australia will always be the big brother PNG will look up to in the future regardless of foreign policy challenges.
Furthermore, Marapes foeign policy shift can be assessed from the different levels of analysis in decision making. In the individual level of analysis Marape announced a foreign policy shift because of his vision for PNG as the Prime Minister. From a biblical point of view, many Christian’s perceive that he is a visionary leader and that he was chosen by God almighty to lead the country into another path. In his personal life Marape has had many achievements from his Seventh Day Church, higher education qualifications and 18 years of political experience leading up to becoming the 8th Prime Minister of PNG. Relatively, he is born from one of the rural areas in his home province where agriculture is prominent. This could be the first reason for his major focus on Agriculture. Accordingly, political experience is the other factor where PNG has been relying too much from the international community with a few changes and massive amounts of depths being owed. Conversely, this is why Marape is pursuing economic independence in a way for PNG to look after itself. The last factor is the political environment where he has acted unilaterally to focus on other partners than either Australia or China.
More on, Newmann (n.d) state level analysis emphasizes that “the foreign policy behavior of every state is a cultural characteristic, defined by the historical legacy of the state, the religious or social traditions, or the economic and geographic nature of the state itself.” The foreign policy shift is not about politics but focused on enhancing trade and investment for PNG. Historically, PNG has been dependent from other Australia and for this to change the PNGs focus on South East Asian countries will help the state to enhance its economic capabilities. Additionally, South East Asian Countries are also part of the Asia Pacific region. PNG will use topography as a geographical factor to pursue its idea from gaining economic independence and that is the cause of the focus on Agriculture. The Yegiora Files (2019) supports that “one topographic feature under landform that is mentioned in Marape’s proposed foreign policy vision that will help make PNG the richest black Christian nation is our many fertile valleys and plains. Marape talked about beef production in Ramu valley and the Western or Sepik plains.”
From the system level of analysis, the foreign the foreign policy shift can be viewed as PNG pursuing to grown economically in a globalizing world as mention by former Foreign Affairs Minister Rimbink Pato his ministerial statement, “In a rapidly changing, globalizing world, foreign policy has to be kept under constant review – so that new challenges and new opportunities are addressed in ways that protect and promote Papua New Guinea’s national interests, with due regard for other countries’ interests.” The decision to shift PNG’s foreign policy is because of the globalizing world the nation can be capable of handling challenges and opportunities brought forth if it is economically fit. For instance, PNG cannot receive loans from Australia to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic like it did in the future but PNG will be capable of handling such crisis when the state is economically capable. A change in the international system influences the behavior of states in foreign policy decision making. (Newmann, n.d)
All in all, the Marapes foreign policy shift will not affect PNGs relationship with traditional partners. China is another traditional partner that massively contributes to the economic developments of PNG. As stated by Marape, the PNG-China relationship will continue as long as it is free and fair. Marapes statement is from a Liberalist point of view. Newmann (n.d) argued that that Liberalism is about cooperation than rivalry: and that states don’t compete and worry about power. This is why we have the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. Thus, once again, the Marape foreign policy shift will not affect ties with PNGs traditional partners.
References
ABC News (20th May, 2020) Australia spends $100m in ‘quick financial support’ for Pacific countries hit by cyclone and pandemic. Retrieved from:
Armbruster, S. (1st June, 2019) New PNG PM flags foreign policy shift from ‘traditional partners’ to SE Asian neighbours. SBS News. Retrieved from:
Gedare, D. (1994). Australia-Papua New Guinea relations, 1980-1990: independence and change (Master’s thesis, University of Wollongong, Australia). Retrieved from:
https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/2213/
HIGH COMMISSION OF THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA (n.d) Relationship with Australia. Retrieved from:
Lowy Institute (2019) Address by the Hon. James Marape Mp, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. Retrieved from:
Mitna, P. (2018). Factors influencing Papua New Guinea’s foreign policy in the Twenty-First Century (Doctoral dissertation, The Australian National University). Retrieved from:
Newmann, B. (n.d) A brief introduction to theories on international relations and foreign policy. Retrieved from:
Ripsman, M. N. (2011) Neoclassical realism. Retrieved from:
The Yegiora Files (2019) Marapes food basket diplomacy. Retrieved from:
https://theyegiorafiles.blogspot.com/2019/08/marapes-food-basket-diplomacy.html
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