Taiwan closes representative office in Papua New Guinea

Taiwan said Friday it has decided to close its representative office in Papua New Guinea and withdraw its staff, blaming Chinese coercion of the South Pacific nation for the decision.

The announcement comes after a months-long dispute following PNG’s decision in July to shutter Taiwan’s office in the capital Port Moresby, which Taipei rejected. China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and opposes the self-governed island’s participation in international organisations and exchanges with other countries, previously welcomed PNG’s move.

Like many countries, PNG has formal diplomatic relations with China but had allowed Taiwan to have a representative office in Port Moresby. Taiwan said “a series of recent actions” by the PNG government had “severely undermined the foundation of mutual trust built through long-term cooperation between the two sides”. Taiwan previously announced that it had stopped spot purchases of liquefied natural gas from PNG, but on Friday the ministry said it also would no longer sign new spot purchase contracts with the country.

“In the future, we will allocate relevant resources to friendly nations and other regions with cooperative potential that warrant continued engagement, in order to further deepen substantive cooperation and expand Taiwan’s international space,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.