‘Denial’ of China a stumbling block as Pacific leaders push back at Australian police training plan
An Australian-backed proposal to set up a Pacific police training hub in Brisbane is facing pushback from some countries in the region over concerns that it is part of a geopolitical play by the west to exclude China.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was due to discuss the issue with his counterparts at the Pacific Islands Forum (Pif) in Tonga on Wednesday amid increasing contest for influence between the US and China.
The Australian government has emphasised that the Pacific Policing Initiative, which would include a centre in Brisbane to help train officers from across the region, is “firmly Pacific-led”.
The proposal also includes the formation of multinational police units that could be deployed quickly to respond to natural disasters or security challenges.
But the prime minister of Vanuatu, Charlot Salwai, and the regional sub-grouping to which Vanuatu belongs had gone public with its concerns the plan may be intended to serve western strategic interests.
Salwai described the Pacific policing initiative as “important” but indicated the region should ensure the plan was “framed to fit our purposes and not developed to suit the geostrategic interests and geostrategic denial security postures of our big partners”.
This “denial” language is a clear reference to excluding China. Australia has repeatedly registered its concerns about China’s attempts to reach security and policing agreements with Pacific island countries, including the 2022 deal with Solomon Islands.
Salwai is the chair of the Melanesian spearhead group (MSG), a regional subgrouping that includes Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
He raised the concerns in an opening statement to an MSG caucus meeting in Tonga. His language was then echoed by the MSG director general, Leonard Louma.
Louma said the Pacific policing initiative was “worthy” but cautioned that it “must be genuinely framed to fit our purposes and not conveniently developed as part of the geostrategic denial security doctrine of our big partners”.
While he described conversations held so far as “encouraging”, he added that many aspects were still “cryptic”.
Albanese landed in Tonga on Tuesday evening and will attend two full days of talks, including a leaders’ retreat on Thursday.
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“We’re part of the Pacific family and over the next couple of days we’ll be talking about our common interests, how we work together to combat climate change [and] for economic development and for peace and security in our region,” the prime minister said.
The minister for the Pacific, Pat Conroy, who is also attending the talks, said Australia was “here to listen and act on the priorities of the Pacific”.
Pacific countries had previously expressed a view that any gaps in security in the region should be filled from within the Pacific, he said.
Asked directly whether Australia had “steamrolled” some Pacific states in its push for the policing initiative, Conroy said: “I can say to you that no minister or leader of a Pacific government has said that to me.”
Conroy said he “would reject any accusation, any claim that this is something that Australia is driving”.
“This is something that’s been developed by the Pacific, this is Pacific-led, and that’s incredibly strong.”
Conroy said the proposal was aligned with Fiji’s “oceans of peace” concept and also “builds on the very generous offer from the Papua New Guinea government at the Pif last year to be a regional training hub for Pacific police forces”.
Australia would respect the outcome of the leaders’ talks this week, Conroy said.
Pif is a regional grouping that brings together Australia, New Zealand and 16 other countries and territories in the Pacific.
China and the US are not members but are “dialogue partners” and routinely send high-powered delegations to attend a portion of the summit meetings.