Papua New Guinea has literally rolled out the red carpet for Chinese president Xi Jinping who arrived in Port Moresby ahead of the Apec Leaders Forum this weekend.
Xi, the first Chinese leader to take part in a state visit to the nation, touched down on Friday, days before other leaders are due to arrive for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.
After leaving the airport, the Chinese president was driven along the new “Independence Boulevard” outside PNG’s parliament – a road that was funded by a Chinese loan. At the end he was met by a military band and traditional dancers dressed in parrot feathers, possum pelts and seashell necklaces. Across the capital, images of Xi beamed down from massive billboards and the streets were lined with high school students, some waving Chinese flags.
Xi is in town to open the road and a school – also funded by Beijing – and meet with Pacific island leaders ahead of the Apec summit this weekend, which will be attended by other world leaders including Mike Pence, Justin Trudeau, Rodrigo Duterte, Scott Morrison and Jacinda Ardern.
And he’s here! Quite the show. pic.twitter.com/fB9fy4884M
— Jonathan Pryke (@jonathan_pryke) November 16, 2018
The summit is being hosted in PNG, the poorest member of the Apec bloc, with Australia and China contributing significantly toward the summit. Both countries are vying for influence in the Pacific and Apec has developed into a tug-of-war for regional influence between Australia and China, a fight some commentators think Xi has already won.
PNG has already signed up to Beijing’s trillion-dollar “Belt and Road Initiative” that seeks to enhance sea and land trade routes between the Middle Kingdom and Eurasia.
Prominent PNG writer and activist Martyn Namorong described the summit as “XiPEC” and Jonathan Pryke, from Sydney thinktank the Lowy Institute, said Apec was going to be “the China show”.
“I’ve heard he’s the guest of government,” Pryke told the Guardian ahead of the summit. “He’s staying in PNG and he’s hosting a meeting with the Pacific island leaders on the sideline of the leaders meeting and I imagine there will be a lot of big announcements – more investment, more aid.”
In an opinion piece published ahead of the visit, Xi vowed to “lend fresh impetus to our common development” and “expand practical co-operation with Pacific Island countries in trade and investment.”
Donald Trump is skipping the two-day Apec meeting, sending Pence – who is flying in from the Australian city of Cairns for one day – in his place.
The lead-up to the summit has been marked by scandal. The prime minister came under attack after it was revealed that the Papua New Guinea government had bought 40 Maseratis and three luxury Bentleys to ferry leaders around, despite the country suffering from a polio outbreak and dramatic increases in tuberculosis and malaria cases, as well as funding shortages for health and education.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill bristled when asked about this ahead of the summit, snapping at journalists: “Did you ask the same question in Vietnam when they had the 400 plus Audis?”
“I think it is just an overrated discussion. I’m not going to give it the credibility or credit it deserves,” he said.
O’Neill also faced calls to resign this week, after the Guardian revealed that a company he owned secured a $32.86m government contract to build bridges in the country in a process that may have violated anticorruption guidelines. The prime minister denies all wrongdoing.