Australia pushes Pacific police force to check China’s regional ambitions

“We support the initiative,” Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko said as the region’s leaders met in Tonga for the Pacific Islands Forum.

It would reportedly create a force of some 200 officers that would be dispatched to regional hotspots and disaster zones as needed.

Tkatchenko said regional heavyweight Papua New Guinea would “work together with Australia” to implement the proposal.

But policing has increasingly become a cornerstone of Beijing’s efforts to build Pacific influence.

China has been plying under-resourced Pacific police forces with martial arts training and fleets of Chinese-made vehicles.

Gleaming new police vehicles roam the capital Honiara emblazoned with the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force badge and stark red “China Aid” stickers.

Solomon Islands is one of the nations that has voiced concern over Australia’s plan, seemingly suspicious it could inflame unfolding regional rivalries.

But a second senior Pacific security source said on Wednesday they were confident these anxieties would be calmed and the initiative would go ahead.

There are fears China may one day parlay this agreement into a permanent military foothold in the region.

China’s efforts have typically centred on police as most Pacific island nations do not have a military, according to analyst Peter Connolly.

This allowed China to plug the gap – and curry diplomatic favour – when Pacific nations were beset by “civil unrest and climate-related crisis”, Connolly wrote for the National Bureau of Asian Research earlier this year.

“In a state with no military, police advisers are often the only means for delivering security statecraft.”