MELBOURNE, Australia — Papua New Guinea will gain its own team in Australia’s rugby league in a soft diplomacy deal announced Thursday linked to limiting Chinese influence in the South Pacific. China has pursued its own bilateral security pact on policing with Papua New Guinea and with other South Pacific island nations which U.S. allies including Australia fear could undermine …
There has been plenty of smoke around Papua New Guinea's entry to the NRL, but that didn't make it any less striking as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, PNG Prime Minister James Marape and NRL boss Peter V'landys confirmed there would be fire to go with it. PNG team to enter NRL under long-awaited deal with Australia Photo shows A man …