Sydney, Australia
Reuters
Leaders of several Pacific Islands said on Wednesday they have endorsed an Australian-funded $A400 million plan to improve police training and create a mobile regional policing unit, as Canberra looks to reduce China’s security footprint in the area.
The leaders of Tonga, Fiji, Palau and Papua New Guinea said the programme would assist island states to tackle drug trafficking, illegal fishing and economic crimes across a region that spans millions of kilometres of ocean.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on 16th August, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Tracey Nearmy/File photo.
“The entire Pacific is the biggest unpoliced space in planet earth,” Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape told reporters in Tonga.
Papua New Guinea, with assistance from Australia, will host the first of four police training centres to be built across the region under the Pacific Policing Initiative, he said.
The initiative will create a multi-country policing force that can be deployed to countries in the region in the event of major events or crises.
A coordination hub will be hosted in Brisbane, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said after the plan was agreed by consensus during the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga.
Australia and New Zealand have historically provided policing support to the region in crises, but the new model will boost the ability for Pacific Islands to play a greater role.
“Sovereign nation states will determine how they participate in this, but this is an ongoing process led by the Pacific police and police chiefs for the Pacific, with backing, substantial financial backing, from Australia,” Albanese said.
“By working together, the security of the entire region will be much stronger and will be looked after by ourselves,” he added.
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China has been a major infrastructure lender in the region and is now seeking a greater role in policing.
Australia has previously said there should be “no role” for China in policing the Pacific Islands. Wednesday’s initiative seeks to reduce the need for countries in the region to turn for help to China, which already has police operating in Solomon Islands and Kiribati.
