As African nations increasingly push back against France’s neocolonial legacy, Papua New Guinea rolled out the red carpet. French President Emmanuel Macron was not only welcomed with fanfare but honoured with the naming of a public space in Port Moresby — a gesture that has drawn both admiration and discomfort.
This raises a fundamental question: Is this savvy diplomacy, or a symbolic betrayal of national dignity?
France’s engagement with the Pacific has intensified in recent years, motivated by strategic competition with China and a desire to reassert its influence in its own territories such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia. Macron’s Pacific charm offensive is part of that broader effort — aimed at forging ties, securing partnerships, and projecting France as a resident power in the region.
For PNG, there are clear incentives to welcome such attention. Infrastructure support, climate finance, defence cooperation, and investment prospects are all on the table. In that context, the Marape Government’s decision to embrace Macron can be interpreted as pragmatic diplomacy — playing the field in a multipolar Indo-Pacific.
But optics matter. And so does historical memory.
Many Pacific peoples, including Papua New Guineans, understand too well the legacies of colonial extraction and cultural imposition. In parts of Africa, Macron has faced protests, diplomatic snubs, and a growing narrative that questions France’s role on the continent. To name a public space in Macron’s honour — in the heart of the capital — while those same narratives play out globally, risks appearing tone-deaf.
It also raises questions about whose values and whose contributions are being elevated in PNG’s public spaces. Are we honouring foreign leaders for short-term geopolitical favours, or are we anchoring our diplomacy in principles of mutual respect and historical awareness?
True diplomacy does not require performative displays. Nor should national pride be sacrificed at the altar of foreign relations.
Macron’s visit should prompt strategic dialogue, not symbolic idolisation. In a post-colonial, increasingly self-aware Pacific, dignity and diplomacy must walk hand in hand.