Taiwan says closes representative office in Papua New Guinea, blames China

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.

General view of Taiwan flag installation ahead of National Day celebrations in Taipei, Taiwan, 06 October, 2021. File photo: Walid Berrazeg/HKFP.

“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.

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 the Port Moresby.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said on Friday the island democracy was “proactively” closing the office, withdrawing “all posted personnel” and reviewing and adjusting “bilateral cooperative relations”.

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”.

Taipei, Taiwan, on January 12, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

“These actions also reflect China’s continued use of political pressure and economic influence to interfere in the diplomatic decisions of other countries and suppress Taiwan’s international space,” the ministry said.

“The Papua New Guinea government’s decision once again highlights China’s use of political and economic means to interfere with other countries’ autonomous diplomatic decision-making and to undermine international mutual trust and the principles of fairness.”

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.

The foreign ministry said Taiwanese LNG purchases accounted for one-third of PNG’s exports.

The South Pacific Nation accounted for eight percent of Taiwan’s natural gas imports in 2025, compared with Qatar (34 percent), Australia (33 percent) and the United States (10 percent), official figures show.

Taiwan will also end technical cooperation and assistance programmes, “including medical missions, related scholarship and talent development programmes”, the ministry said.