SYDNEY, June 2 (Reuters) – Pacific Island leaders agree that China’s plan for a comprehensive trade and security pact should be discussed at a regional meeting before any decision is made, he said. Thursday the leader of Samoa.
Ahead of China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s regional tour, which began last week, Beijing officials had circulated a draft agreement between China and 10 island countries covering the police. security, fishing, data and a free trade area.
The document, first reported by Reuters, raised concerns among some Pacific nations about security proposals and that closely linking their economies to Beijing could lead to friction with the United States and its allies. Read more
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A virtual meeting of 10 Pacific foreign ministers hosted by Wang in Fiji on Monday agreed to postpone consideration of the proposal. Read more
Samoa was concerned that the Pacific islands could not first discuss China’s proposal with each other, Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa said on Thursday.
“Being called to have this discussion and to have the expectation that there will be a decision or an overall outcome was something we could not agree on,” he said at a joint news conference with the Foreign Minister. Australian Foreigner Penny Wong, who traveled to Samoa. Thursday.
“I think the region has come to this conclusion, that we need to come together as a region to consider any proposals made to us by our development partners.”
The Pacific Islands Forum is the main regional group, which includes members with diplomatic ties to Taiwan rather than Beijing, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
Australia, New Zealand and the United States have expressed concern about China’s growing assertiveness in seeking a security and police presence in the Pacific Islands, a region of strategic military importance.
Wong said Australia “had seen regional security a problem for the Pacific family”.
Wong is heading to Tonga on Friday, days after Wang’s visit to China, to send a message that the new Australian government is committed to doing more about climate change, which the Pacific islands say is the biggest security challenge. Read more
TOUR IN CHINA
Near the end of his tour of eight countries in the South Pacific, Wang has signed a series of bilateral agreements on trade, fishing, infrastructure and the supply of police equipment.
In an editorial, the state-run China Daily criticized the alarm of Australia, the United States, New Zealand and Japan over the visit to the Pacific islands of Wang as unjustified.
China has offered “pragmatic measures” tailored to the development needs of the Pacific islands, he said.
“Diplomatic maneuvers are being carried out throughout the region, agitated, open and behind the scenes, by those disturbed by their journey,” he said.
Wang arrives in Papua New Guinea on Thursday, where tensions are high ahead of a national election and an official told the media that Beijing’s proposed regional security pact has caused discontent.
“There has been resentment over the Pacific agreement on security issues,” Papua New Guinea Foreign Secretary Elias Wohengu said, according to the Post Courier.
The timing of Wang’s visit has also been criticized by former Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, who is campaigning for the job.
No agreement should be signed with China before the election and it would be “inappropriate” for China to provide security equipment or provide security support for the election, the Post Courier newspaper quoted O’Neill as saying Thursday.
The Australian network ABC had previously reported that Beijing would offer 2,000 pieces of body armor to police during Wang’s visit.
Papua New Guinea, rich in resources, has defense ties with neighboring Australia, which has agreed to upgrade a naval base there, but is also looking to increase sales in China for its LNG project.
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Report by Kirsty Needham
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