Commentary: Why blocking China-Oceania cooperation a wild goose chase

Doctors of the 12th Chinese medical team stationed in Papua New Guinea (PNG) shares minimally invasive surgery expertise with their PNG counterparts during a training program in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, March 9, 2023. (The 12th Chinese medical team stationed in Papua New Guinea/Handout via Xinhua)

BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Verma has recently urged the Pacific island country Papua New Guinea (PNG) to reject its policing and security cooperation with Beijing, warning of potential consequences and costs.

Such rejections are totally unwarranted, and reflect Washington's hegemonic mindset. Any sovereign country has the full right to decide who and in which area it wants to cooperate with. Yet it seems that the United States views other countries as its subordinates, always trying to tell them what to do.

PNG is China's good friend and partner in the Pacific Islands region. Over the years, China's cooperation with PNG in various fields including policing has been based on mutual respect and mutual benefit, just like its cooperation with any other sovereign nation in the world.

Lin Yingxing (R), specialist from the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, checks the growth of the dry-land rice with local specialist Tony Simon in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea on Jan. 30, 2020. (Photo by Hu Yingping/Xinhua)

In contrast, the United States always puts its own interests front and center, and ignores the legitimate development and security needs of other countries.

America, the world's sole superpower, feels free to flex its muscles, and always imposes its own will on other countries. Due to the reckless actions of the United States, countries in the Middle East, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific have borne significant security and developmental costs.

But what worries Washington is not whether PNG could face some kind of risks by engaging in a partnership with China. What it is truly concerned about is that its own influence in the South Pacific could be weakened because of a stronger China-PNG relationship.

The people in the PNG know this. "China is willing to share what it has ... and sees us as equals," said Joseph Yopyyopy, a member of the National Parliament of PNG.

Washington should reflect on those words, and reconsider its Cold-War thinking.