Taiwan to shut representative office in Papua New Guinea, blaming Chinese pressure

Taiwan has announced it will close its representative office in Papua New Guinea and stop buying liquefied natural gas from the South Pacific nation, blaming what it described as Chinese political pressure behind the move.

In a statement on Friday, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Papua New Guinea had repeated earlier demands that Taiwanese staff leave the office in the capital, Port Moresby, within a set deadline, and had pressed for the office to be shut down entirely.

The ministry said the actions "reflect China's continued use of political pressure and economic influence to interfere in other countries' diplomatic decisions and suppress Taiwan's international space."

China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, had welcomed Papua New Guinea's decision in July to shutter the Taiwanese office. Taipei rejected that move at the time, and the office had remained open in the interim.

The Pacific has long been an arena for diplomatic competition between China and Taiwan. Papua New Guinea maintains formal diplomatic relations with Beijing, though it had allowed Taiwan to keep a representative office in Port Moresby.

Taiwan now holds formal diplomatic ties with only three Pacific island nations: Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. It also operates a representative office in Fiji. Worldwide, just 12 countries maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Alongside the office closure, Taipei said it would no longer sign new spot purchase contracts for LNG from Papua New Guinea. Taiwan had previously announced it was halting spot purchases from the country, and Friday's statement extended that to new contracts.

The energy relationship between the two sides has been significant. Taiwanese LNG purchases accounted for one-third of Papua New Guinea's exports, while last year Taiwan imported about 8 percent of its natural gas from Port Moresby.

Taipei will also wind down technical cooperation and assistance programmes with the country, the ministry said, "including medical missions, related scholarship and talent development programmes."