PNG asks China to refinance $8.0b public debt

PORT MORESBY, Aug 07 (AFP): Papua New Guinea (PNG) has asked Beijing to refinance its $8 billion debt, in a request likely to rile Australia and the US as they try to maintain their influence in the Pacific in the face of a rising China.

Beijing has been strengthening ties with PNG and other Pacific nations by increasing engagement and offering loans for infrastructure, prompting both the US and Australia to launch their own charm offensives in the region to keep traditional allies on side.

Less than two weeks after travelling to Australia on his first trip abroad as leader, PNG Prime Minister James Marape announced on Tuesday that he had asked China's ambassador for help in refinancing the country's 27-billion-kina public debt during a meeting in Port Moresby.

"He stated that a formal letter would be forwarded to the ambassador to convey to Beijing on this request," Marape's office said in a statement.