"Biden seals 3 deals in Pacific islands as U.S. competes with China"
By PNG correspondent Tim Swanston Posted 2h ago, updated 19m ago
VIDEO - Authorities say one tribe was marching to attack another when it was ambushed.
* In short: PNG police say at least 53 people have been shot dead in an ambush in the country's highlands in a major escalation of tribal fighting in the region. * Authorities said one of the tribes was on their way to attack a neighbouring tribe when they were ambushed. * What's next? Police have urged for calm in the province as they investigate.
Papua New Guinea police say at least 53 people have died in a massacre in the country’s highlands.
Warning: Some of the details in this story are distressing.
Police believe the men were shot dead in an ambush in Enga Province, in a major escalation of tribal fighting in the region.
Local police believe it could be the largest massacre in PNG's highlands in recent history.
Graphic videos and photos have emerged of the bodies of the men loaded onto a police truck.
Villages in PNG's Enga region have been burned to the ground in spiralling tribal violence. (ABC News: Tim Swanston)
Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Acting Superintendent George Kakas said officers who responded were "devastated".
"This is by far the largest (killing) I've seen in Enga, maybe in all of Highlands as well, in Papua New Guinea," he said.
"We're all devastated, we're all mentally stressed out. It's really hard to comprehend."
Facing escalating tribal fighting, Enga Province was put into lockdown for several months last year.
Police had been trying to stop the supply of firearms and ammunition into the region, which was supercharging the deadly violence.
It is understood this tribal fight involves the same tribes that killed more than 60 people last year.
George Kakas (facing) says officers who responded to the Enga massacre were "devastated". (ABC News: Natalie Whiting)
Acting Superintendent Kakas said one of the tribes, along with their allies and mercenaries, were on their way to attack a neighbouring tribe when they were ambushed.
"These tribesmen have been killed all over the countryside, all over the bush," he said.
"Police and defence forces have had to go in to do their best to quell the situation at their own risk.
"We started collecting bodies, scattered all over the battlefield, the roads, the riverside … and they were loaded onto police trucks and taken to the hospital."
He said authorities were still counting "those who were shot, injured and ran off into the bushes" and that more people could have died in the bushes.
"We presume the numbers will go up to 60 or 65," he said.
Police have urged for calm in the province.
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Enga Governor Peter Ipatas said there was a warning that tribal fighting was about to erupt.
"[This is] a very, very sad occasion for us in the province and it's a bad thing for the country," he said.
"From a provincial perspective, we knew this fight was going to be on and we [alerted] the security forces last week to make sure they took appropriate action to ensure this didn't occur."
Up to 17 tribes involved in fight
Tribal violence has been rife in the Enga region since the last election in 2022, with another flashpoint occurring last September.
On that occasion, the tribe from another village was blamed for a man's death and then ambushed his funeral, killing five people with bush knives and axes.
In the months that followed, a tit-for-tat retribution spiralled out of control. As more tribes became involved, many villages were raided and burnt down.
Mr Ipatas said the province had been trying to manage the fighting, but with 17 tribes involved in the most recent escalation, it was ultimately up to the security forces to keep the peace.
"It's a very big fight that's not normally in Enga province. This is probably the biggest tribal fight we've ever had," he said.
"The police and security forces must take ownership and be on the ground, assess the situation and take appropriate action.
"Because we know who is fighting, it's not like this is criminal activity that pops up. This is a tribal fight, we know which people are involved."
With Trump undoing years of progress, can the US salvage its Pacific Islands strategy?
"Biden seals 3 deals in Pacific islands as U.S. competes with China "US and Papua New Guinea set to sign security agreement amid Pacific militarisation concerns "Smiles and unity at the Pacific Islands Forum mask tough questions shelved for another day"""
Published: June 13, 2025 6.09am AEST
Author Alan Tidwell Director, Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies, Georgetown University
Disclosure statement Alan Tidwell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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Since 2018, the United States has worked, albeit often haltingly, to regain its footing with Pacific Island countries. It’s done this largely by reflecting a sentiment familiar in Pacific capitals: the region is not a geopolitical backwater, but a crucial strategic zone in the 21st century.
Spurred by China’s strategic expansion – security deals, port access, political influence – the first Trump presidency and then the Biden administration renewed the US focus on the Pacific.
Building on the tentative steps of its predecessor, the Biden administration acted. It opened new embassies, invited Pacific leaders to the White House, unveiled a dedicated strategy for the Pacific Islands .. https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000183-86ba-d824-a1d7-a7bac17e0000 .. , and committed to recognising the Cook Islands and Niue.
Crucially, the Biden administration recognised climate change and the economy, not great-power rivalry, as the region’s defining security concerns.Now, much of that progress is being eroded.
More than mere symbols, these agencies were tools of statecraft,facilitating Washington’s capacity to compete with China’s “no questions asked” development model. Their removal leaves a vacuum, which Beijing will happily fill.
Trump recently signed an executive order opening the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument .. https://www.fws.gov/national-monument/pacific-islands-heritage-marine , a 1,282,534 square kilometre protected marine zone, to commercial fishing. This might be welcomed by the US tuna fleet, but it raises questions about Washington’s commitment to the tuna treaty.
Hoped-for expansion of US consular access, especially vital for Pacific Islanders who must travel long distances for basic services such as visa applications, is in limbo. The US embassy in Vanuatu, damaged by the earthquake in 2024, remains closed, leaving diplomats to work out of their hotel rooms.
China, by contrast, has not slowed down. Its security pact with Solomon Islands, its police training efforts in Samoa and Kiribati, and its growing intelligence presence across the region show a clear pattern of assertiveness.
Beijing has proven adept at offering timely, visible assistance. Its diplomats show up. Its companies build. Its promises, however opaque, are matched with resources.
The result has not necessarily meant Pacific nations have “chosen” China. Rather, most revert to the longstanding posture of “friend to all, enemy to none”.
In a region where non-alignment is both a survival strategy and a principle of sovereignty, the perception of US unreliability makes China’s attentions all the more welcome, or at least tolerable.
Not a binary contest
The US now appears to be abandoning efforts to break this cycle, and the Trump administration risks a genuine strategic error rather than a mere diplomatic misstep.
More than distant dots on a map, the Pacific Islands control vast stretches of ocean, including key shipping lanes and undersea cables. Their diplomatic weight matters in the United Nations.
[color=red]Some argue the US should press Pacific nations to “choose” between Washington and Beijing. But that approach is shortsighted and counterproductive.[/color]
Most have no interest in being drawn into a binary contest. They seek concrete benefits – resilience funding, fair trade, visa access – not ideological alignment. Framing relationships as zero-sum contests misunderstands the region’s diplomatic logic.
Listening to Pacific leaders
To revive the relationship, the US will need to show up, follow through and demonstrate its partnership offers more than rhetoric.
This would involve restoring some elements of foreign assistance, fully funding the South Pacific Tuna Treaty obligations, opening and staffing embassies, and supporting Pacific regional organisations such as the Pacific Islands Forum with meaningful recognition and resources.
But the US review of Pacific foreign assistance (a small portion of US development aid formerly administered by USAID) has been delayed once again, and likely won’t emerge until mid-July.
In short, the US will have to treat the Pacific Islands as sovereign equals. When Trump returned to the White House, he found a workable policy architecture for the Pacific. Its core elements could still be rescued.
But continued neglect, mixed signals and cost-cutting risk hastening the outcome China seeks – a region that finds Washington unreliable. Winston Peters, now foreign minister in a new government, might want to update his 2018 call for US engagement in the Pacific – with the emphasis on reliability.
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Can you imagine Trump treating Pacific Islanders as sovereign equals. For one they are not white. For two, they are to an extent from what Trump has described as "shithouse nations":
Trump insists 'I am the least racist person' amid outrage over remarks This article is more than 7 years old
US president condemned by UN and African Union, as ex-ambassador warns his comments ‘are disorienting for our partners’ David Smith in Washington and Kevin Rawlinson in London Tue 16 Jan 2018 09.03 AEDT [...] But his alleged comments continued to reverberate. On Sunday, congressman John Lewis, who marched with King for voting rights in Selma, Alabama in 1965, told ABC: “I think he is a racist …
“I don’t think there’s any way that you can square what the president said with the words of Martin Luther King Jr and what he said about Dr King … It’s unreal. It’s unbelievable. It makes me sad. It makes me cry.” [...] Patrick Gaspard, who was born to Haitian parents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and was US ambassador to South Africa under Barack Obama, told the Guardian: “Methinks he doth protest too much.
“In the legion of absolutely outrageous things that this man has said and done, what occurred this past week has just tipped us over into a place of near insanity and this seems to be a textbook case of conduct unbecoming the commanding officer of the United States of America.”
“The disparaging remarks come in the wider context of Trump dismantling the foreign policy apparatus of the US,” added Gaspard, who has not been replaced in South Africa.
“These kind of sentiments are disorienting for our partners. They’re not entirely sure what to make of the American identity at the beginning of the 21st century.”
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