Australian officials,who were not authorised to speak publicly,said they were confident the policing initiative would receive widespread support,despite the possibility of posturing from some Pacific leaders with close ties to Beijing.

Mihai Sora,a Lowy Institute expert on the Pacific and former diplomat in the region,said the “far-reaching” initiative was “about Australia playing a much bigger role in providing policing support in the Pacific”.

“This is about closing the space for an external actor like China to become involved in regional security,” he said.

“Australia will be at pains to demonstrate that this is a Pacific-led initiative,so it is important for Pacific leaders to endorse it and buy into it.”

Pacific leaders are struggling with a lack of trained police officers despite rising crime rates and transnational drug syndicates setting up across the region,Sora said.

Chinese police have deployed in the Solomon Islands and Kiribati,despite Australian officials insisting that security and policing matters should be handled only by Pacific nations including Australia.

Albanese and Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Feleti Teo will announce during the forum thata landmark climate resettlement treaty announced last year has officially entered into force.

The Falepili Union will create a special visa pathway for the Pacific nation’s residents to escape the threat of climate change and give Australia effective veto power over any possible security pact between China.

This masthead revealed in May thatAustralian officials were forced to scramble to prevent China and Papua New Guinea from striking a policing pact on the eve of a visit by Albanese to PNG.

“The Chinese are unrelenting on this,” an Australian official familiar with the negotiations but not authorised to speak publicly said at the time.

Albanese announced in June that Australia would help the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force increase its size from 1500 to 3000 officers,and the government is spending $200 million to boost PNG’s policing and national security services.

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