Taiwan said on Friday it had decided to shut its representative office in Papua New Guinea and stop buying liquefied natural gas from the country, blaming Chinese pressure — Taipei's own closure decision, months after Port Moresby ordered the office shut in July but it stayed open.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

Taiwan's foreign ministry said Papua New Guinea had repeated its previous demands that staff leave the office in Port Moresby within a set deadline and had pushed for its closure. Papua New Guinea's actions "reflect China's continued use of political pressure and economic influence to interfere in other countries' diplomatic decisions and suppress Taiwan's international space", the ministry said in a statement reported by Reuters.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

500,000Metric tons of spot-market LNG planned from PNG in the first half of 2026, now stopped
~1/3Share of Papua New Guinea's total LNG exports bought by Taiwan, its foreign ministry says
1999Year Papua New Guinea briefly had diplomatic relations with Taiwan
12Countries worldwide maintaining formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan
3Taiwan's formal Pacific allies: Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands

The July order this follows — the office stayed open

This is a follow-up to the earlier development in July, when Papua New Guinea's foreign minister Justin Tkatchenko said his government had decided to close Taiwan's representative office immediately — a move that won praise from China and drew concern from Washington. The office, however, remained open in the interim, Reuters reported. At the time, Taiwan protested the unilateral decision, pledged to keep operating, and Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said Taipei was reviewing its economic exchanges with Papua New Guinea, including LNG purchases of about 1.2 million tons a year, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency.

Source: CNA via GlobalSecurity (July)

Friday's statement turns that review into a decision on the office itself. On gas, the foreign ministry said Taiwan had stopped buying LNG from Papua New Guinea through the spot market — the volume planned for the first half of 2026 was about 500,000 metric tons — and will not sign any new spot natural gas purchase contracts with the country in the future.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

"So this change in procurement policy will have a substantive impact on Papua New Guinea's natural gas exports and foreign exchange earnings," the ministry added, noting Taiwan has long been an important market for Papua New Guinea's gas, with purchases accounting for roughly a third of its total LNG exports.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

A Pacific contest between Beijing and Taipei

The Pacific has long been an area of diplomatic competition between China and Taiwan. Beijing views the democratically governed island as its own territory with no right to the trappings of a state; Taiwan's government rejects that position. Taiwan now has formal diplomatic ties with only three Pacific island nations — Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands — and also keeps a representative office in Fiji; just 12 countries worldwide maintain formal ties with it. Neither the Papua New Guinea nor the Chinese foreign ministry immediately responded to Reuters requests for comment.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

What happens next

Reuters did not report the deadline Port Moresby set for Taiwan's staff to leave, or when the Port Moresby office will physically close. The open questions are whether Papua New Guinea or China responds to Taipei's statement, whether Taiwan's remaining long-term gas arrangements are touched — Friday's decision was stated in spot-market terms — and whether the closure shifts the contest for Pacific recognition further, with only three formal Taiwan allies left in the region.