PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea – Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape advanced his economic agenda while in China this week, but experts stressed that economic benefits from Chinese investment should not come at the expense of the environment or workers’ rights.
During the three-day visit to the southern coastal city of Guangzhou, Marape discussed partnerships in green energy, agriculture, special economic zones, and he met with investors in two controversial mining projects: a potential gold and copper mine on the Frieda River and an expansion of the Ramu Nickel Mine.
Though the Frieda River Project has not yet broken ground, critics worry that its environmental footprint might be so great that it could destroy the entire Sepik River ecosystem. Meanwhile the Ramu Nickel Mine is often cited as PNG’s environmental and social cautionary tale. Not only has it been criticized for poor occupational health standards, in 2019 a toxic waste catastrophe at the nickel mine turned the ocean red, killed marine life, and caused residents to develop severe skin rashes.
The problem is not only limited to Papua New Guinea; Chinese investment in overseas mining projects all over the world has resulted in serious human rights abuses and environmental harm, a 2023 report by the London-based Business & Human Rights Resource Centre said.
But Marape’s office has viewed both projects as essential for national economic growth, and to diversify the economy away from raw materials export by including downstream processing.
At what cost?
While the government’s attempts to attract investment are welcome, the projects should not be rushed, Paul Barker, executive director of the PNG Institute of National Affairs, a Port Moresby-based think tank, told RFA.
“PNG is a relatively high cost economy which is why there is not already more diversification and value adding,” he said. “High domestic costs are associated with poor infrastructure, local monopolies, including by state-owned and poorly performing monopolies, law and order issues, weak investment over the years in HR development, including technical and business skills, and other factors.”
Barker said conquering these challenges was necessary to enable economic diversification, and to encourage Papua New Guineans to participate in and lead their own economy.
“Secondly, the Prime Minister should be careful not to rush investment with inadequate safeguards,” said Barker. “Social, environmental and safety standards, equity, and ensuring local benefits must be prerequisites.”
The goal of investment should be to uplift the people, not to undermine them, Anton Sekum, the acting general secretary of the Papua New Guinea Trade Union Congress, told RFA.
“Foreign investment is welcome. But it must come with responsibility,” he said. “Too often, experiences across sectors—from large-scale resource projects like Ramu Nickel mine to major infrastructure construction, wholesale, and retail—have shown that worker welfare, wages, and conditions fall below acceptable standards from Chinese owned investments.”
He said that it was important that jobs for Papua New Guineans should not pay only a survival wage.
“They must provide dignity, security, and the opportunity for real economic mobility,” he said. “Foreign investment must play a transformative role—not just extracting value, but building it.”
He also stressed that respect for human rights and the democratic rights of the people were equally important, and called on Marape to make clear to China that exploitation in labor would not be tolerated.
“Papua New Guinea must not seek investors who come only to take,” he said. “Instead, we must seek partners who are prepared to build, to transfer knowledge, and to leave a legacy of empowered people.”
Land acquired
At a press conference Friday, Marape said his trip was “good and wonderful.”
He revealed that in addition to securing investment in the mines, China also gave PNG two tracts of land–one in Beijing and one in Guangzhou–which will be used for diplomatic purposes.
“I want to say thank you to China for this gesture which was unknown to us. The Kundu Beijing project will be workable and will place the face of PNG in China,” he said referring to a partnership program with a goal of advancing PNG’s economy, named after the hourglass shaped drum that is often found in formal ceremonies in Papua New Guinea.
Edited by Eugene Whong.