Papua New Guinea will gain its own team in Australia’s rugby league in a soft diplomacy deal linked to limiting Chinese influence in the South Pacific.

In separate agreements with Nauru, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, Australia is attempting to edge out China’s influence in the region.

A team from the Pacific nation will join Australia’s National Rugby League in a $400 million deal that deepens ties while denting China’s regional security push.

Australia is banking on sports diplomacy to lure Papua New Guinea away from China’s sphere of influence. It has signed an agreement to invest A$600m (£301m) over 10 years to establish a new rugby league club,

A historic $600m deal to give Papua New Guinea an NRL team has dashed China’s hopes for a security pact with Australia’s nearest neighbour under a provision allowing the agreement to be terminated if PNG undermines the nations’ “strategic trust”.

SYDNEY: Australia will spend US$385 million to establish a team from Papua New Guinea in its rugby league competition, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday (Dec 12), a move designed to help ward off China. Papua New Guinea has long lobbied for ...

Papua New Guinea (PNG) will join Australia's national rugby league competition, after signing a deal that obligates them to shun security ties with China. The Pacific nation has produced many stars of Australia's National Rugby League (NRL) and has long been lobbying to join the franchise.

China has pursued its own bilateral security pact on policing with Papua New Guinea and with other South Pacific island nations which U.S. allies, including Australia, fear could undermine ...

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Geopolitics is a tough game but by getting Papua New Guinea on side, Canberra has shown the NRL is up to the task

Australia said Friday it had agreed to boost Solomon Islands' police force with a multi-year funding, training and infrastructure package for the Pacific nation, which has fostered close ties with China.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia announced on Friday it will pay for more police in Solomon Islands and create a police training center in the South Pacific island nation’s capital Honiara, where Chinese law enforcement instructors are already based under a bilateral security pact with Beijing.