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AAs competition for influence intensifies in the Pacific, Guardian analysis maps a vast web of security, policing and defence agreements between island nations and foreign partners, raising concerns about the militarisation of the region.
The Guardian looked at agreements and partnerships on security, defence and policing with the 10 most populous Pacific nations. Australia remains the region’s leading partner – accounting for more than half of the deals confirmed – followed by New Zealandthe United States and China.
Data show that more than 60 Agreements and initiatives, including multiple infrastructure and equipment deals to support defence and policing efforts in Pacific nations. The interactive table below lists each agreement, which can be searched by country or keyword.
More than half of the agreements focus on policing, emphasizing training and equipment donations to Pacific police forces — a move that comes amid growing transnational crime and threats. China has become a new player in this field and has developed nearly half a dozen initiatives to support policing Pacific countries have made significant progress in their development in recent years. Almost all Pacific countries tracked have reached agreements with multiple partners.
Experts have expressed concern about the militarization of the region, saying China and Solomon Islands sign 2022 security agreement,as well as US, Papua New Guinea sign defense cooperation agreement A year later, the two sides reached an agreement. Only three Pacific countries – Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tonga – have their own armies.
Papua New Guinea, the largest country in the Pacific with a population of about 10 million, has received security support and maintained ties with multiple partners including Australia, the United States and China.
“International partners are very keen and are actively participating,” said Donald Yamasombi, deputy commissioner of the country’s police force. He said the Papua New Guinea police are very eager to cooperate with foreign forces, especially to combat the country’s growing methamphetamine trafficking and use.
While China does not have any formal policing or security agreement with PNG, Yamasumbi said he regularly seeks advice from Chinese embassy officials, particularly on how to deal with PNG’s growing problems with emerging crimes such as money laundering, illegal immigration and prostitution.
“If we cooperate with China, I hope our cooperation will target these types of crimes,” said Amazonbi. The deputy commissioner said he would welcome further cooperation with the Chinese police force, including participation in training programs.
Meanwhile, the United States has at least eight defense and security agreements with Pacific nations. Last year, the United States signed an agreement with Papua New Guinea that gives it US troops have “unimpeded” access to their basesIn 2020, The United States and Fiji have signed a defense and security agreement. The United States also retains its major military influence in the North Pacific through the Compacts of Free Association (Cofa) with Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia, which give the United States full responsibility for each country’s defense and security affairs.
A State Department spokesperson said the Indo-Pacific region is “a top U.S. foreign policy priority” and that in order to maintain stability, the United States is “strengthening security to deter aggression and counter provocations and other dangerous and destabilizing behavior in the region.”
The analysis attempts to capture the most significant transactions to reveal the scope of security relationships with Pacific nations and their key partners. It focuses on relationships with individual partners, including some Pacific regional and regional agreements. Some support or transactions – such as one-off donations of police equipment – are not included.
Concerns about increasing militarization
Some experts have expressed concern that such agreements reached in recent years will increase militarization in the region, while a lack of transparency in some of the agreements could erode sovereignty and democracy in the Pacific.
Professor Joanne Wallis, director of the Pacific Islands Security Studies Program at the University of Adelaide, said there was “greater anxiety” about the strategic competition between the US and its allies, including Australia, and China in the region.
Tarsisius Kabutolaka, a professor at the University of Hawaii and former director of the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, said the “nature and details of the security protocols … are concerning.”
Kabutolaka said the 2023 PNG-US defence cooperation agreement, which allows US troops access to defence facilities in the Pacific nation, would “lead to increasing militarisation of the region”.
in addition, Security cooperation and Police transaction It is “not just a concern for Canberra, Wellington or Washington DC, but a concern for citizens”.
“Part of what’s worrisome about the deal with China is that it’s not transparent. We don’t know what they said, what they intend to do,” Kabutaulaka said.
He is particularly concerned that the agreements could lead to extrajudicial arrests by Chinese law enforcement in Pacific nations. Just as it did in Fiji in 2017. “Our approach to policing, the way we deal with law and order issues cannot be the same as China’s,” said Kabuta Ulaka, who is from the Solomon Islands.
Amazonbi also warned against further increases in military spending in the region, saying the money would be better used to strengthen the country’s law enforcement capabilities and improve its ability to prosecute transnational crime.
“What the region needs more is security than military (investment),” said Yamasumbi. “Why should we go to war with another country?”
China’s ‘unwelcome’ presence
Australia has invested heavily in policing the region and is reportedly preparing New training center established for Pacific policeThe Pacific Policing Plan, still under development, will be led by a Pacific police chief and will include a coordination centre and multinational response capabilities.
Canberra provides policing support to various countries, and last month the Solomon Islands asked Australia to help increase its police force from 1,500 to 3,000. A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said “Australia remains committed to the security objectives of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) member countries” – led by Boe Manifesto 2018.
exist TongaChinese officials have offered to provide police training and personnel to assist with security at the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum meeting. Shane McLellan, Australia’s police commissioner appointed by the Tongan king, said China had donated forensic equipment and vehicles to the police in recent years and continued to “provide various assistance”.
McLellan said police training in democratic countries such as New Zealand and Australia was more appropriate than the training provided by China due to language and cultural barriers.
“The style of training, the training approach and the methods that Tonga needs are more accessible and more directly relevant if the training comes from similar countries,” he said, but added, “That doesn’t mean we’re going to say no to China right away.”
A spokesperson for New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the Guardian that China’s increased security presence in the Pacific was “unnecessary and unwelcome”.
China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Despite these concerns, Kabutolaka predicted that Pacific nations “will continue to sign agreements with places like China, whether it’s in policing or whether it’s in military cooperation.”
Not only could this lead to geopolitical instability, he said, it could also cause a rift between citizens at home and Pacific governments.
At the same time, Wallis said the Pacific is “not a priority for China” and Beijing is unlikely to invest in a permanent military presence in the region.
“I’m less concerned about military bases than I am about China not insisting on transparency and undermining democratic structures,” Wallis said.
“this solomon islands “The China-Vietnam security agreement is an example of something that should ideally be public,” she said, while also noting that how Chinese police are deployed in the region in the future “may not fully adhere to human rights protections and our usual expectations of good policing.”
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