Prime Minister James Marape has reaffirmed Papua New Guinea’s relationship with the People’s Republic of China in the ‘Friends to All; Enemy to None’ diplomatic policy when he welcomed visiting Special Envoy, His Excellency Qian Bo to Papua New Guinea yesterday.
Ambassador Qian was appointed by the Chinese Government in February this year as the Special Envoy for Pacific Island Countries and starts a tour of the Pacific beginning in PNG.
At a high-level meeting yesterday morning at the Prime Minister’s Office, Sir Manasupe House in Waigani, Port Moresby, Prime Minister Marape and Ambassador Qian discussed various bi-lateral matters concerning their respective countries and the relationship both countries share.
“We are friend to all, enemy to none; we relate with East, West, North and South in the manner that do not compromise each other’s positions. We respect the sovereignty of nations,” PM Marape said.
“China has been a very important partner to PNG in all sense of a bilateral relationship – in politics, government-to-government, and business-to-business. We certainly welcome you to PNG. You are here in a country that is a very close friend of China.
“Your appointment as Special Envoy for the Pacific reflects your President’s commitment for a close rapport between your country and us in the Pacific. We appreciate this.”
The Prime Minister reiterated the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries and asked for the detailing of this to entail downstream processing and business operations in PNG, adding that this was the number one focus of his government.
“There is no relevance in government-to-government conversations if there is no security in my economy, and I would like China to embrace that line of thinking. We ask for a deep economic relationship that seals our people-to-people engagements, business-to-business, and on the basis of that, a good government-to-government relationship.”
PM Marape said with China’s capability in business and trade, PNG welcomed China, especially in the “upper industrial level in the economic zones”.
The Prime Minister added that his earlier calls for China to consider opening up direct flights between Port Moresby and Shanghai in a co-sharing arrangement to tap into the Chinese tourism market.
“PNG will not compromise its relationship with China. Our Foreign Minister is working on our foreign policy that is coming out – key among them is the respect of the sovereignty of each nation,” he said.
PM Marape thanked Ambassador Qian for reaffirming China’s relationship with PNG.
