According to Reuters, China will seek a broad economic and security agreement with 10 Pacific states during Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s trip to the region this week.
Wang is due to disembark in the Solomon Islands on Thursday at the start of a 10-day tour that will also take him to Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor from May 26 to May 4. June.
During the trip, Wang will attend the second meeting of China-Pacific Island Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Fiji, where he is expected to push for a five-year action plan and a joint statement.
The draft, which was shared with Reuters, details how China and the Pacific nations can “strengthen trade and cooperation in the fields of traditional and non-traditional security.”
Details include a planned free trade zone between China and the Pacific islands, but also agreements on police training and law enforcement operations, as well as plans to cooperate on data networks, cybersecurity and smart customs.
The last point would give the green light to the Chinese technology giant Huawei to enter the Pacific market and build 5G networks.
The company has been banned from operating in several Western countries and allies in the United States due to security concerns over its close ties to the Chinese state. The United States and Australia have also so far blocked Huawei’s construction of submarine cables and mobile networks in the Pacific, according to Reuters.
The draft plan has alarmed at least one Pacific country, the Federated States of Micronesia, which is a close ally of the United States.
President David Panuelo reportedly sent a letter to other heads of state in the region urging them not to accept the statement, which would give undue influence to China, according to a letter seen by the news agency.
He also warned that it could upset tensions in the Pacific and help trigger another “Cold War” between China and the United States.
“The practical impacts … of Chinese control over our communications infrastructure, our ocean territory and resources, and our security space, apart from the impacts on our sovereignty, is that it increases the chances that China is in conflict with Australia, Japan, the United States and New Zealand, ”he said.
Panuelo also expressed distrust in letting China deal with the mass surveillance of Pacific Islander citizens and customs data.
The letter, however, also contained some criticism of Australia, whose lack of commitment to the Pacific has been cited as one of the main reasons why China has consolidated in some countries in the region after the Solomon Islands signed a security pact with Beijing earlier this year. .
Ned Price, a U.S. State Department spokesman, said Wednesday that the Pacific should be wary of a possible deal and expressed concern that it had been “negotiated in a hasty and non-transparent process.”
“It simply came to our notice then [China] has a pattern of offering shady and vague agreements with little transparency or regional consultation in areas related to fisheries, related to resource management, development assistance and, more recently, even safety practices, “he said. to journalists.
He also said the prospect of a security deal was worrying and “would only try to fuel regional and international tensions and raise concerns about Beijing’s expansion of the interior of its internal security apparatus in the Pacific.”
Australia’s newly appointed Secretary of State Penny Wong is also on her way to the Pacific less than a week after taking office.
He was flying to Fiji on Thursday and was expected to meet with Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna.
“The visit, my first week as Foreign Minister, demonstrates the importance we attach to our relationship with Fiji and our commitment to the Pacific,” Wong told Australian public broadcaster ABC.
“Australia will listen to our Pacific partners as we work together to meet our shared challenges and achieve our shared goals, such as combating climate change, pandemic recovery, economic development and regional security.”