Fiji rethinks its China security ties as Pacific tensions rise: ‘our values differ’
- The Pacific island nation’s leader said it was reviewing a contentious police cooperation agreement it signed with China in 2011
- He even appeared to go a step further at one point during a news conference on Wednesday, by referring to the agreement’s ‘discontinuation’
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said Fiji was reviewing a contentious police cooperation agreement it signed with China in 2011 that has allowed Chinese police officers to be stationed in the Pacific island nation.
“If our systems and our values differ, what cooperation can we get from them?” Rabuka said, referring to China.
If our systems and our values differ, what cooperation can we get from them?
“We need to look at that again before we decide whether we go back to it, or if we continue the way that we have in the past by cooperating with those who have similar democratic values and systems.”
Fiji expanded its policing agreement with China in 2013 to include some military cooperation, but Rabuka on Wednesday didn’t directly address that arrangement.
China has previously said the security agreements have benefited Fiji and it hopes to continue the collaboration.
Rabuka won a tense election in December over Frank Bainimarama, who had held power in Fiji for 16 years. Rabuka has moved since then to distance himself from some of Bainimarama’s policies, including moves to forge closer ties with China.
‘Our systems are different’: Fiji discards China police training deal
Meanwhile, Bainimarama and former Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho, who oversaw the China policing agreement, now face criminal charges of abusing their power, as does former Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who was widely seen as Bainimarama’s right-hand man.
China and the US have increased their competition for influence in the Pacific in recent years.
Last month the US signed a new security pact with Papua New Guinea, which is strategically located just north of Australia. The US has also opened embassies in Solomon Islands and Tonga, and revived Peace Corps volunteer efforts.
