Australia has said Papua New Guinea's rugby league team will join its National Rugby League, in a sports agreement with diplomatic implications. In return, PNG has agreed to a deal aimed at thwarting China's ambitions to gain a strategic hold in the South Pacific.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at joint press conference in Sydney on Thursday that "rugby league is PNG's national sport and PNG deserves a national team."

PNG Prime Minister James Marape said, "What you are gifting to us in the license to have a team in the NRL goes in the hearts of uniting our diverse country together."

The Australian government announced on Thursday that it will provide PNG with 380 million US dollars over a decade, and add its rugby team to the league in 2028.

A separate security agreement between the two countries which had been signed last year also came into force on Thursday.

Australian government sources told NHK that Canberra made another confidential security deal in exchange for the rugby agreement. It allows Australia to pull out of the sports deal if PNG were to make any security arrangements with China.

In January, PNG reportedly revealed that it was in early talks with Beijing on security and policing.

The latest official security agreement says that Canberra will support policing facilities, training and forensics in PNG, parts of which lie just four kilometers north of Australia.