Taiwan to close representative office in Papua New Guinea, blames China

Taiwan says it is closing its representative office in Papua New Guinea and will stop buying liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the country, blaming Chinese political pressure on the South Pacific nation.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that Papua New Guinea had repeated previous demands that staff leave its office in the capital, Port Moresby, within a set deadline and had pushed for ⁠its closure.

These actions “reflect China’s continued use of political pressure and economic influence to interfere in other countries’ diplomatic decisions and suppress Taiwan’s international space”, it said in a statement.

China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, had welcomed Papua New Guinea’s decision in July to shutter Taiwan’s office in Port Moresby. Taipei rejected the move, and the office remained open in the interim.

The Pacific has long been an area for diplomatic competition between China and Taiwan. Papua New Guinea has formal diplomatic relations with China, but it had allowed Taiwan to have a representative office in Port Moresby.

Taiwan has formal diplomatic ties with only three Pacific Islands nations: Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. It also has a representative office in Fiji. Just 12 countries maintain formal ⁠diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Taiwan previously announced that it had stopped spot purchases of LNG from the South Pacific nation, but on Friday the ministry said it also would no longer sign new spot purchase contracts with the country.

Taiwanese LNG purchases accounted for one-third of Papua New Guinea’s exports.

Last year, Taiwan imported about 8 percent of its natural gas from Port Moresby.

Taipei will also end technical cooperation and assistance programmes, “including medical missions, related scholarship and talent development programmes”, the ministry said.