Luxury cars, warship at new-look Apec
Security tight as PNG locals take to streets ahead of world leaders’ visit
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is scheduled to arrive in Papua New Guinea late this afternoon for an Apec leaders’ summit like no other.
The country known for its rampant crime, grinding poverty, lethal earthquakes and endemic corruption will attempt to show its best side to the world for the weekend.
For Ardern it will be a shift from the seemly order of Singapore, where the East Asia Summit was held, to the unpredictability of the first Pacific Island Apec.
Ardern will receive a traditional welcome when she lands at about 6.30pm before meeting PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill at Apec Haus, the $40 million convention centre built by China, along with a six-lane boulevard.
The locals have already taken to the streets against the event — as many did in Auckland in 1999 — spurred on by the purchase of three Bentleys and 40 Maseratis for the occasion, which O’Neill insists will be sold after it.
Security will be tight, as it always is with an international summit involving 21 economies. Up to 30 New Zealand SAS personnel will be there, along with a P3 Orion surveillance plane and the HMNZS Otago patrol vessel.
That pales compared to Australia’s contribution, which includes a warship, a fleet of choppers, 1500 defence force personnel and at least $140m to help host the event.
Thousands of officials and media will be staying on cruise ships, although the New Zealand media will be staying at the New Zealand High Commission’s residence.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters went ahead early and Trade Minister David Parker has been there, too. Both are having meetings with their counterparts.
Politically the event looks set to be like no other. This is not just PNG’s Apec, but China’s too. The new Cold War has come to the tropics over influence in the Pacific and is set to play out at Apec where Donald Trump’s absence is being exploited.
China’s President Xi Jinping will hold his own summit with Pacific leaders specially invited by PNG for the event.
Xi will almost certainly leave PNG with a trophy — the launch of free trade talks with Papua New Guinea.
That is likely to rankle with New Zealand and Australia who have failed to convince PNG or Fiji to join the Pacer Plus agreement concluded last year with Pacific countries.
Australia, however, has one over China, having agreed to develop Lombrum naval base on PNG’s Manus Island, which China was initially interested in doing.
The primary goal is to keep China from establishing any naval or air facility from which it could base itself in the Pacific.
Australia has signalled an aggressive strategy to compete with China for influence in the Pacific. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week announced a “return” to the Pacific as members of the “Pacific family,” backed up with a $2 billion fund for infrastructure initiatives, five new diplomatic missions, greater engagement by the Australian Defence Force with Pacific Forces, and more free Aussie TV content.
It is a battle for hearts, minds — and pockets.