Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is meeting with counterparts from 10 Pacific island nations in Fiji on Monday, halfway through a diplomatic tour of the region where China’s ambitions for broader security ties have raised concerns among US allies.
Pacific island nations with diplomatic ties to China are attending a meeting hosted by Wang, who previously met with Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimaram.
A draft statement and a five-year action plan sent by China to invited nations, including Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Niue and Vanuatu ahead of the meeting, showed China is looking for big regional trade and a security agreement.
But the draft statement provoked opposition from at least one of the invited states, the Federal States of Micronesia, according to a letter leaked last week.
As borders across the region are closed due to the COVID pandemic, most foreign ministers are attending the meeting in Fiji via video link. In several Pacific countries, the foreign minister is also the prime minister.
Several invited countries want to postpone the action regarding the statement or change it, an official of a Pacific country told Reuters.
Some Pacific islands have signed some of the individual security components required by China in the regional agreement in recent days, according to statements issued by governments and China.
An agreement has been reached in Samoa on a police laboratory for fingerprints, which would supplement the police academy for training financed by China, Samoa states in a statement.
The United States, Australia, Japan and New Zealand have expressed concern over the security pact Solomon Islands signed with China last month, saying it has regional implications and could lead to a Chinese military presence near Australia.
The new Australian government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has set the Pacific Islands as an early foreign policy priority to counter Beijing’s efforts, announcing a school for defense training, support for maritime security, increased aid and re-engaging the region in climate change.
In Honiara last week, Wang condemned the interference in the agreement and said that the relations of the Solomon Islands with China are a model for other Pacific island countries.
(Reporting to Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing Lincoln Feast.)
(Only the title and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from the syndicated feed.)
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