Mutual defence does not cede sovereignty but seeks to reinforce and strengthen the very concept of sovereignty, Papua New Guinea Foreign Affairs Secretary Elias Wohengu has said.
Refuting the recent flurry of commentaries opposing the PNG-Australia Mutual Defence Treaty, also known as the Pukpuk Treaty, Wohengu said nothing in the document provides defence personnel integration between the parties but upholds and maintains the authorities of the sovereign command of the Chief of Defence Forces of both countries.
In a statement, secretary Wohengu explained: “Operational integration is provided for, so defence personnel of both countries can be trained on similar platforms and assets essential for interoperability.”
“Recruitment must not be confused with integration. Recruitment as an employment pathway is pursued in this Treaty and not enlisted uniform personnel integration. “
He said PNG school leavers can now apply to join the Australian Defence Force and vice-versa.
Further, both countries coexist bilaterally, regionally and in a multilateral space and the proposed Treaty does not have exclusivity clauses to sovereign and commercial presence according to Wohengu.
Wohengu said the ANZUS Treaty, U.S-Philippines Mutual Defence Treaty and Japan-US Security Treaty are examples of military alliances within our region.
PNG has defence cooperation programmes with Australia, France, United States, Indonesia, New Zealand, Japan and also with China. This Treaty is never done to the exclusion of any country or third party commercial presence.
He also said Japan and PNG entered into a new programme called the “Official Security Assistance” where minister responsible signed a K11.6mil programme for Japan to fund the PNGDF Engineering Battalion to procure machinery to assist with infrastructure projects.
“The Pukpuk Treaty has received legal clearance from the State Solicitor of PNG,” Wohengu said.
The Treaty if accepted by parliament, will not require any amendment to any legislation or enactment of new legislation to facilitate its entry into force.
