AUSTRALIA and Papua New Guinea’s militaries will become integrated under a new security pact to be signed this week, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said today, as his government attempts to curb China’s security influence in the region.

The prime minister said that he and his counterpart James Marape would sign the pact on Wednesday, a day after celebrating Papua New Guinea’s 50th anniversary of independence from Australia.

“It provides for mutual defence, which means that we will provide support for each other, provide for an integration of our interoperability of our assets and our respective defence forces,” Mr Albanese said in Perth before flying to Papua New Guinea.

The deal will allow the nations’ citizens to serve in either militaries, with Australia offering citizenship as an incentive for Papua New Guineans to enlist in its armed forces.

There is growing Western hostility to Chinese influence in the region. Three Pacific island nations have changed their allegiances from Taiwan to Beijing since 2019 and China is also providing police training in Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

The signing of a 2023 security agreement between Australia and Papua New Guinea was delayed by six months after a separate pact between the United States and Mr Marape’s government sparked protests in his country.