Papua New Guinea (PNG) will join Australia's national rugby league competition, after signing a deal that obligates them to shun security ties with China.
Australia will provide A$600m (£301m, $384m) over ten years to set up the team – which will be based in Port Moresby and compete from 2028 – and help develop the game at a grassroots level across the Pacific region.
In exchange, PNG signed a separate pact which it says reaffirms its commitment to Australia as its major security partner.
The precise terms of the dual deals are confidential, but the BBC understands they allow Australia to withdraw funding if PNG enters a security agreement with a nation outside the so-called "Pacific family". That term is widely accepted to exclude China, despite Beijing's efforts to gain a foothold in the region.
If Canberra pulls out, the NRL is then obligated to drop the PNG team.
Government sources say the deals do not give Australia veto power over PNG security agreements. But their framing does have the effect of eliminating almost every other potential partner - and Mr Nobetau said the announcement could be seen by some in PNG as "an exertion of Australian power over PNG sovereignty".
Oh, you think?
"China puts in a lot of money into sport infrastructure… which is sort of what China is good at… [but] China is not going to be offering any alternatives in this space," Mr Nobetau said.
Yeah cool, I'm sure the people of PNG need professional rugby teams more than they need roads and hospitals.
Fuck me the Australian government is evil.
Channel 9 News just reported on this and the reporter was so fucking sinister. "Rugby is taken very serious in PNG, so now it looks like the PNG government is going to have to think twice about working with China, or there could be riots." 
Like straight up acting like the Mafia. The mask isn't just off, it's been burnt to ashes.
