Australian Prime Minister Antony Albanese. | Photo credit: Reuters
Pacific island leaders endorsed a landmark regional policing plan at a summit in Tonga on Wednesday (August 28, 2024), a controversial move seen as an attempt to limit China’s security role in the region.
The plan aims to create four regional police training centres and a multinational crisis response force, with initial funding of $271 million from Australia. Under the plan, a contingent of about 200 officers drawn from various island nations in the Pacific region can be sent to regional hot spots and disaster areas when required and invited.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it “shows how leaders across the Pacific are working together to shape the future we want to see.” The Australian leader made the announcement alongside the leaders of Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Tonga – a symbolic display of unity in a region plagued by competition between China and the US
Tonga’s Prime Minister Siaosi Sowaleni, the summit’s host, said the initiative would tackle emerging threats such as organised crime. “Tonga, like many other countries, has been facing a number of international security challenges in the Pacific region in recent years,” he said.
According to Mihai Sora of the Sydney-based think tank Lowy Institute, Wednesday’s announcement was a diplomatic victory for Australia and the Pacific Islands Forum, a regional grouping that had appeared deeply divided on the topic. China’s Pacific allies – notably Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands – had expressed concern that the policing plan represented a “geostrategic denial security doctrine” designed to exclude Beijing.
When asked about the agreement on Wednesday (August 28, 2024), Beijing said it welcomes “efforts by all parties to promote the development and prosperity of Pacific island countries.”