{
  "id": 18723773,
  "title": "Taiwan says closes representative office in Papua New Guinea, blames China",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/taiwan-says-closes-representative-office-in-papua-new-guinea-blames",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-07T05:48:12.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Hong Kong Free Press",
    "slug": "hong-kong-free-press",
    "url": "https://hongkongfp.com/2026/11/07/taiwan-says-closes-representative-office-in-papua-new-guinea-blames-china/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On Friday, Taiwan announced it would close its representative office in Papua New Guinea and withdraw its staff, attributing the decision to Chinese pressure on the South Pacific nation. In a statement, Taiwan's foreign ministry said it would allocate resources to friendly nations and regions with cooperative potential for deeper engagement. This comes after months of dispute following Papua New Guinea's decision in July to close Taiwan's office in its capital, Port Moresby – a move Taiwan rejected. China, which claims Taiwan as its territory and opposes the island's participation in international organizations and exchanges, welcomed PNG's decision. Taiwan's foreign ministry stated that the island democracy was proactively closing the office, withdrawing all personnel and reviewing bilateral cooperative relations. The ministry emphasized that recent actions by the PNG government \"severely undermined the foundation of mutual trust built through long-term cooperation between the two sides.\" The ministry also highlighted China's continued use of political pressure and economic influence to interfere in other countries' diplomatic decisions and suppress Taiwan's international space. In addition to closing its office, Taiwan will stop signing new spot purchase contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG) with PNG, as it accounts for one-third of PNG's LNG exports. The South Pacific nation made up eight percent of Taiwan's natural gas imports in 2025, compared to Qatar (34 percent), Australia (33 percent), and the United States (10 percent). Taiwan will also end technical cooperation and assistance programs, including medical missions, scholarships, and talent development initiatives, the ministry announced.",
  "summary": "Taiwan said Friday it has decided to close its representative office in Papua New Guinea and withdraw its staff, blaming Chinese coercion of the South Pacific nation for the decision. “In the future, we will allocate relevant resources to friendly nations and other regions with cooperative potential that warrant continued engagement, in order to further […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}