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

What the report says

Taiwan says it will close its representative office in Papua New Guinea and end purchases of liquefied natural gas from the Pacific nation, in a move it attributes to political pressure from China, Al Jazeera reported. Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Papua New Guinea had repeated earlier demands that office staff leave Port Moresby by a deadline and had pushed for the office’s closure.

According to the report, Taipei described the developments as part of China’s broader effort to use political and economic influence to narrow Taiwan’s international space. China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, had welcomed Papua New Guinea’s earlier decision in July to shut the office, although Taiwan kept it operating for a time after rejecting that move.

The Pacific has long been a region of diplomatic competition between Beijing and Taipei. Papua New Guinea maintains formal ties with China, while Taiwan has official relations with only three Pacific Island countries: Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. Taiwan also said it has a representative office in Fiji.

Al Jazeera said Taiwan has now stopped spot LNG purchases from Papua New Guinea and will not sign new spot contracts there. The ministry also said it will end technical cooperation and assistance programs, including medical missions and scholarship-related initiatives. The report noted that Taiwanese LNG purchases had accounted for about one-third of Papua New Guinea’s exports, while Taiwan imported roughly 8 percent of its natural gas from Port Moresby last year.