4 days ago
Australian rugby the way to tackle China's PNG police play
It may look like a normal sports story – Australia expanding its National Rugby League into Papua New Guinea (PNG) – but it's far more than that.
This is one of the most impactful and strategic soft power plays by an Australian government since Australia saw its former PNG colony gain independence in 1975.
It's cultural diplomacy at its smartest in a region where Australia is increasingly fighting for influence. With this move, Australia has played the one card China can never match: a connection between these two neighbors grounded in the PNG national religion – National Rugby League.
Australia-PNG security relations go back more than a century, with PNG just four kilometers away from Australia. During World War II, Australian defense of PNG from Japanese invasion was grounded in necessity.
China is already scoping out a move into PNG security, with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi visiting Port Moresby in early 2024 to discuss a potential policing agreement. This raised serious concerns in Canberra, as the Australian Police Force has been PNG's de facto security guarantor for decades.
With China's move, Australia sees that necessity return – and this time, it is playing out not on a battlefield but on a rugby field. China is building roads, bridges, ports, stadiums, empty museums and crumbling presidential palaces while Australia is pitching something more emotional.
As Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese put it, 'no two countries have a greater passion for rugby league.'
While 'shared identity' is often a diplomatic buzzword, in this case, through this shared identity, Australia has the chance to build something far deeper than contracts or aid: a sense of national PNG pride while cementing people-to-people connections, both of which would be a coup for Canberra.
Australia is not a global superpower. It is a middle power – like South Korea, Mexico or a rising Indonesia. It lacks the economic clout of China, which can spend billions in infrastructure and aid to win influence through economic diplomacy.
And it doesn't have the military reach of the United States, which stations troops worldwide to project force. Middle powers need something different: they need soft power.
If you have ever danced to Gangnam Style or binged Squid Game – you have been one of the billions globally swept up in South Korea's cultural soft power diplomacy.
Through K-pop, drama, comedy, and reality TV, South Korea has built one of the most powerful and effective soft power machines in the world – shaping global perception of South Korea without building a single bridge or deploying a single solider.
However, Australia is not on a South Korean-style path to try and shape global perceptions. Australia is more focused on its region, and it is seeking to change how Papua New Guineans feel about Australia. And sport is a uniquely powerful tool to win hearts and minds.
In PNG, National Rugby League isn't just popular — it's the national sport. By providing a platform for PNG to express national pride through a league team, Australia isn't just funding a sports program; it's also investing in how Papua New Guineans feel about Australia – cultural diplomacy in action.
Australia wants to know that when it comes to the internal or external security of PNG, they will look to them, not to China. To be blunt, Australia does not want Chinese police or military stationed in its closest neighbor, potentially just four kilometers from its shores.
Picture this: Fast forward to 2029, and the PNG league team is in its second season. A local accountant steps out of his office in Port Moresby and spots the regular Aussie police officer walking around.
He can't resist a cheeky comment about how PNG thrashed the South Sydney Rabbitohs in Sydney on the weekend. They both laugh and continue their day in the PNG sun. This is people-to-people diplomacy at its finest – unprompted, unforced and totally genuine.
Compare this to the Chinese-built Presidential Palace in Vanuatu, a US$31 million 'gift' to PNG's neighbor that quickly fell into disrepair after the 2024 earthquakes. Unable to afford the upkeep, the Vanuatu government all but abandoned the 'gift.'
So, when the PNG government is renegotiating security agreements and it floats the idea of replacing the Australian Federal Police with Chinese officers, Australia's hope is that such a shift feels unthinkable to the PNG public.
That the connection built through sporting rivalry and the resulting everyday interactions makes alignment with China unpalatable, and this public sentiment constrains the choices of the elected leaders.
For PNG, this is also so much more than diplomacy. It's a shot at global sporting recognition — a chance to step onto the international stage in the sport they live and breathe. It's about national pride, visibility and taking on a major rival in a game that's as much PNG as it is Aussie.
Influence in the Pacific is not about shouting louder. It's about playing the right game and playing it in a way that wins hearts and minds.
Picture a young PNG girl walking through Sydney Olympic Park, proudly wearing a PNG national jersey, buzzing with excitement to see their team take on Australia's best.
Maybe, just maybe, it might just be that little girl in the jersey — not a diplomat, not a defense deal, not a presidential palace — who keeps China at bay and Australia on side in PNG.
Dylan Harrington is a former Australian Federal Police national security expert specializing in Pacific Island security and a former Australian government trade agreement negotiator.
