Papua New Guinea
The new race for influence
The Economist has a great article on the race to “… woo(ing) Papua New Guinea”. The article gives a nice overview of why world players are rushing to the country of Papua New Guinea. Most people throughout the world have probably never heard of Papua New Guinea. I don’t ever remember it being referenced in school. I only learned because I am a total geography geek.
This article will try to show what is happening to this country, and then look at PNG’s history to understand how novel and welcome this attention is.
Economic Reasons for Renewed Interest
Papua New Guinea has recently become economically exciting to advanced economies because of Natural Gas reserves. PNG has a lot of natural gas and starting in 2009 French and US interests have built a LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) facility in Port Moresby.
For PNG, the export of natural gas diversifies the economy. PNG richest exports are mainly extraction investments like gold, oil, copper, and now natural gas as LNG. Reaching the sites and mining is a difficult proposition, given the physical conditions of the country. The joint development of LNG facilities vastly increases the capital available to the project because PNG is very much a developing country with few resources to invest themselves.
The LNG is a powerful economic engine for PNG has it is a source of (relatively) clean energy widely used in Asia. Of the 5 leading importers of LNG, all 5 are in Asia (in order): Japan, South Korea, China, India, and Taiwan. The critical nature of these exports natural interest the major users of LNG and, therefore, the United States as the chief ally of 3 of these nations.
Geographic Reasons for Renewed Interest
Papua New Guinea is located just west of the island nations as well as the US and French territories of the South Pacific. China has moved to purchase docking or landing rights in many of these island nations, where the promise of Chinese development funds are necessary. Often China will build military capabilities along side new port facilities. The United States, Australia, France, and some island nations oppose this growth, which they see as a projection of Chinese power in traditional “western” friendly areas. It projects Chinese naval and air power into a region that the three major nations have major interests. Tying PNG into a western economic and military synergy is a goal. If that cannot be achieved, keeping China out of PNG is a priority for the West.
For the leadership in Papua New Guinea, the goal is to stay out of foreign entanglements. Australia is the country that provides the greatest investment and monetary support. On the other hand, China is PNG’s largest trade partner and buys the most of Papua’s LNG customers. Friendly relations with both parties is in PNG’s best interest.
How geography and diversity effect Papua New Guinea
Outside of the political arena, Papua New Guinea is a difficult country to develop, geographically speaking. It is a mountainous country covered with heavy jungle areas that have never been “tamed”. For years until the 21st century, the indigenous population was extremely anti-outsider, which limited tourism and investment.
The indigenous population is wildly diverse. There are hundreds of ethnic groups, most still living in the jungle in much the same way their ancestors did. This diversity of people is now a major draw for tourism. Some communities welcome visitors in groups, others do not. Traveling on one’s own is not encouraged as much of the interior population is still threatening to outsiders. PNG has a wealth of 820 different languages, representing 12% of the world’s total.
That diversity itself also extends to nature and wildlife. Because PNG includes at least 20 different mini-climate zones and few large predators, the bio-diversity is nearly unmatched. The best example of this are the birds. Birds in the PNG jungle have ample sources of food and few predators. Therefore, the birds have evolved to spend a lot of energy on mating displays and plumage. The mammal biodiversity of PNG is also great and includes several species of kangaroos and possums found nowhere else.
This is not just an interesting fact about PNG. There diversity of peoples, languages, different climates, and the world’s interest in biodiversity makes PNG a difficult country to manage. It is doubly tricky to manage interior regions where many of the people do not recognize the national government.
History of Colonization
Papua New Guinea is part of New Guinea which is the second largest island in the world. The European colonizers included the Dutch on the western side of the island, which is now part of Indonesia. The Germans before World War I controlled the north side of the eastern portion of the Island, now part of the nation. The south side of the eastern portion was controlled by The United Kingdom. After World War I, the entire island was under British rule under Australian leadership. After World War II, the eastern side of the island was under Australian rule. In 1975 Papua New Guinea gained independence.
Previous to independence, economic development was stunted. For colonial rulers, there were more lucrative places to spend time and money. Today the island’s per capita GDP is approximately $4,500 a year. That is 141st in the world. Given this, it is understandable how the leaders of PNG respond to economic opportunities, where ever they come from.
Going Forward
The current race towards resources and military engagement bodes well for Papua New Guinea. Not only are facilities being built on the coast with a new port, accessing these resources will require new infrastructure. However, the race to exploit natural resources might cause great damage in the natural environment. PNG must develop in a sustainable manner, a goal the government has promised.