Chinahas courted Pacific leaders in an attempt to supplant Australia as the region’s primary security partner,with its police previouslyentering Pacific countries such as Fiji and Kiribati,and seeking to strike policing pacts with nations such as Papua New Guinea.
Albanese said:“This policing initiative continues a long history of Pacific police forces working together to strengthen regional peace and security,and to support each other in times of need.
“This is a Pacific-led,Australia-backed initiative,harnessing our collective strengths. We are stronger together.”
Hailing the importance of the agreement,PNG Prime Minister James Marape described the Pacific as “the biggest un-policed space in planet Earth”,saying nations like his faced major challenges including drug trafficking and illegal fishing.
Asked whether the initiative meant a policing deal with China would not be necessary,Marape said:“We have our security partners;at the moment,Australia remains our security partner of choice,especially for policing matters.”
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Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said it had been a “godsend” for Pacific police officers to receive training overseas,adding he was sure the new initiative would “succeed for our benefit”.
A day earlier,Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai told fellow Pacific leaders that “we need to make sure that this[policing initiative] is framed to fit our purposes and not developed to suit the geostrategic interests and geostrategic denial security postures of our big partners”.
Leonard Louma,director-general of the Melanesian Spearhead Group,described the pact as a worthy initiative but said many aspects of it remain “cryptic” and should benefit locals rather than “the geostrategic denial security doctrine of our big partners”.
The Melanesian Spearhead Group includes Fiji,Papua New Guinea,Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
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Mihai Sora,a Pacific expert at the Lowy Institute and former diplomat in the region,said:“Australia would be celebrating this as a win for the region,and an endorsement of Australia’s role as the main security partner for Pacific Island countries”.
“It’s not an easy thing for so many diverse countries to come together to agree on something so complex and sensitive as regional security co-operation,” he said.
While noting that Pacific countries could still pursue individual policing agreements with China,Sora said that “this initiative aims to fill those gaps in policing that China purports to be responding to”.
One of the United States’ most important foreign policing officials,Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell,is in Tonga for the forum,reflecting the US’s renewed attention on the region.
During his trip,Campbell will also open a new US embassy in Vanuatu.
Albanese and Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo on Wednesday celebrated the entry into force of the Falepili Union,a landmark climate resettlement treaty announced last year,with Albanese describing it as “groundbreaking”.
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