Ever since Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, visited Papua New Guinea (PNG) in April, Australia has been trying to fend off a security pact between the two countries. Mr Wang signed trade and technology agreements with James Marape, PNG’s prime minister, and reportedly pushed for a deal about policing. China has alarmed America and its allies by striking security agreements elsewhere in the Pacific, starting with the Solomon Islands in 2022. Mr Marape put PNG’s deal on hold after Australia, an American ally, objected.

Australia is now considering a novel way of keeping Chinese forces out of PNG for good. It involves beefy men bashing into each other. The two countries share a passion for rugby, and PNG has long wanted its own team in Australia’s National Rugby League. Negotiations are under way. Australia’s centre-left Labor government has committed up to A$600m ($403m) over a decade to set up a team in PNG. In return it may demand assurances that PNG will not sign an agreement that would allow Chinese police or military to be based there, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

In 2017 Australia also kicked up a fuss when Huawei, a Chinese telecoms firm, said that it would provide PNG and the Solomon Islands with high-speed internet via an undersea cable connected to Sydney. Citing fears about its network’s security, Australia funded the A$137m construction itself. In 2020 it started upgrading the Lombrum naval base on Manus Island, an important launchpad in the second world war. Security agreements have followed. Australia and America both signed one with PNG last year. America’s military deal in May guaranteed “unimpeded access” to six strategic air and sea ports, including Lombrum. In all, Australia now sends its neighbour over A$630m in annual aid, far more than it gives to anyone else.

Some in PNG worry about becoming a rugby ball between America and China. Students protested against America’s security deal last year. Opposition politicians challenged it, unsuccessfully, in the Supreme Court, complaining about a loss of sovereignty. Yet that was driven more by efforts to challenge Mr Marape, says Oliver Nobetau, a fellow at the Lowy Institute, a think-tank in Sydney.

PNG’s bilateral policy is to be “friends to all and enemies to none”. Australia still retains some advantages over China. Co-operation between its police and its army and those in PNG is already deep. And it has softer means of influence, of which sporting clout is just one. Yet some in Australia worry about tying sports aid to security. “Australia has to be careful not to be seen as a neocolonial bully,” says Wesley Morgan, at the University of New South Wales. That is one of China’s allegations about Australia. Fuelling it further could mean points to the other side.