PORT MORESBY -- One day last month, jets ferried U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and French President Emmanuel Macron in and out of the same Pacific island airport 9,000 miles from their home bases. They had come to see regional power broker James Marape.
While global leaders make the trek to Port Moresby to court PNG's leader, rising debt, inflation and sluggish growth could derail Prime Minister James Marape's plan to make his country the world's "richest Black Christian nation." © Nikkei montage/Source photo by Getty Images
Asia Insight
Papua New Guinea's Marape: Pacific power broker or PM in peril?
Amid U.S.-China balancing act, PNG leader faces mounting pressure at home
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