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BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed support for his “peaceful oceans” plan during a meeting with visiting Fijian Prime Minister Sitiweni Rabuka in Beijing on Tuesday (Aug 20), Chinese state media reported, days before a summit of Pacific island leaders in Tonga.
China has also pledged to strengthen trade ties with the island nation. Angola wants to upgrade its ports and shipbuilding, roads and sewage infrastructure but, deeply in debt, can only do so by securing better terms for its agricultural and fisheries exporters.
“China appreciates Prime Minister Rabuka’s vision of a ‘peaceful ocean’ and is willing to work with Fiji to contribute to international peace and security,” Xi said, according to a statement released late Tuesday night.
Rabuka will visit Tonga next week to attend a summit of 18 Pacific island nations and territories, which will consider a regional policing proposal backed by Australia.
Ahead of his 10-day visit to China, Rabuka said he would not “disrupt” plans for security in the Pacific, where China and the United States are vying for influence.
Rabuka, who returns as prime minister in 2022, has proposed to Pacific leaders a “peaceful ocean” foreign policy that envisions engaging all major powers and avoiding militarization of island regions.
“I am very inspired by your principles, your concept of peaceful coexistence and your principle of progress. They are consistent with my idea of a peaceful ocean,” Rabuka told Xi, saying he would raise the Chinese leader’s support for the plan at next week’s summit.
The report also said that China has also agreed to invest in Fiji’s tourism, agriculture and fisheries, and support a road upgrade project on the country’s second largest island.
While Pacific island nations generally offer lower returns on investment, analysts say Fiji is strategically important to Beijing because it lies at the southern end of the “second island chain,” an area stretching to Japan that the Chinese navy seeks to control.
China has also begun paying more attention to the region, stepping up efforts to diplomatically isolate Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory, and severing its ties with the nearby Pacific nations of the Marshall Islands, Palau and Tuvalu.
Fiji owes China, the world’s largest bilateral lender, just over $218 million, according to the World Bank. After winning the 2022 election, Rabuka began looking to Australia for more aid.
Former Fijian leader Frank Bainimarama struck a policing agreement with China a decade ago, but Rabuka terminated that deal and announced in June a “restructuring of the police force” to work more closely with Australia.
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