Australia-Fiji deal ‘weeks away’ as Pacific faces threats from crime, China

Penny Wong dismissed concerns that Fiji’s institutions might “compromise” as final details of a landmark deal were revealed just weeks later.

The Foreign Affairs Minister traveled to Suva on Tuesday for talks with Pacific leaders, including a meeting with Australian Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy and members of the Fijian parliament.

At the center of the talks is the Vuvale Union, a multifaceted agreement with Fiji covering security, economic measures and people-to-people connections, including the fight against international crime.

Addressing the media, Senator Wong said the agreement would be “guided by resilience, sovereignty and regionalism” and that final details would be shared among officials in the coming weeks.

“This union will benefit people and our region for generations to come,” he said.

But the visit comes at a risky time for Fiji and the Pacific.

China has intensified efforts to expand its influence in the South Pacific, including canceling a $500 million military agreement between Australia and Vanuatu.

Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka this week also ruled out declaring a state of emergency in the country, which has a population of less than one million, after security forces launched a nationwide campaign targeting drug and gang-related activities.

The operation took place after the death of an alleged drug user while in military custody.

On Wednesday, a Fiji Sun reporter asked Senator Wong about the agreement’s intelligence-sharing provisions and concerns that “our institutions in Fiji are being compromised.”

“This policy is based on a set of fundamental principles. One of them is sovereignty, one is democracy, and we are working with you to strengthen your capacity,” Senator Wong replied.

“We are working with you to strengthen your resilience, institutions and capacity in areas that Fiji has identified as priorities.

“Because we are a democracy and this principle is very valuable for governments, countries and people.”

While in Fiji, Senator Wong formally endorsed the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) Agreement at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretariat in Suva.

The PRF is billed as the Pacific’s first led, owned and managed community resilience financing facility and will provide grants for projects in climate adaptation, disaster preparedness and responding to loss and damage.

Tonga, Nauru, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, New Zealand and Niue have already ratified the agreement.

Speaking at PIF on Tuesday, Senator Wong noted how Pacific countries are “severely exposed” to rising fuel costs and future supply risk potential from the Iran war.

“Australia is providing support and technical assistance to Pacific partners to develop and implement national response plans, which will help the region’s governments manage urgent pressures and continue to deliver essential services to Pacific people,” he said.

“We are also working to gain support from New Zealand, Japan, the US, France, as well as other long-standing partners such as the ADB and the World Bank.

“Coordinating these efforts to support the Pacific-led response to these global shocks makes all our economies stronger, safer and more resilient now and in the future.”

Axis of Chinese policy

ANU Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs Associate Professor Graeme Smith said China’s approach to the Pacific had changed since the outbreak of war in the Middle East.

“All foreign policy minds are busy with Trump and Iran,” he said.

“What this means is who is running the show in China’s interests now… companies and increasingly sub-national governments, meaning provincial governments, city governments.

“Most of these were subcontracted to several provinces: mostly Guangdong, Fujian and Shandong.”

Professor Smith said regional governments’ actions in the Pacific, including on police training, made them “useful for central government (and) a way to attract funding”.

He said China’s highly controversial police presence in the Solomon Islands was “low cost” but offered Beijing the chance to “demonstrate a different policing and a different governance model”.

“For me, this is the big change we’ve seen in the last 10-15 years,” Professor Smith said.

“They’re trying to sell a model that includes policing, includes poverty alleviation, covers a lot of things.

“And policing is one of the issues that Australia is particularly sensitive about because we’ve invested so much money into police training in the Solomons.”

As for the Australian government, Professor Smith said he “didn’t know why they were so obsessed with putting things in writing”, including the agreement with Vanuatu.

Professor Smith said in Vanuatu: “Australia going in and trying to force agreements to be signed when there is no consensus and there is no fundamental improvement is a big mistake and leads to an own goal like we saw last year.”

“It’s really about building relationships and saying… well what do you want, what do you want to do with it and then you just do it.”

‘Significant progress’

Speaking earlier, Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said “significant progress” had been made during the Vuvale Union trip.

“This represents a big step in our relationship,” Mr. Rabuka said.

“I firmly believe that the foundation on which our partnership is built is based on shared values.”

Mr Rabuka thanked Australia for its efforts to secure fuel supplies to the region, with a $30 million package announced on Wednesday targeting Fiji’s “digital response”, as well as for its “leadership role” at the COP31 climate summit.

“It will allow us to consolidate Pacific priorities, build consensus and deliver the political momentum needed to deliver ambitious results on climate action, finance and ocean protection,” he said.

Australia withdrew its three-year offer to host talks following a dispute with Türkiye.

Mr Rabuka also said Australia was cooperating in tackling “increasingly sophisticated transnational” criminal threats, including through intelligence sharing.

Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said part of the Australia-Fiji agreement would be a commitment to tackle transnational crime.

“This is a common threat across the region, but clearly transnational crime and the threat it presents has been exacerbated in Fiji in recent events,” he said.

“I want to be very clear to you, and through you to the people of Fiji, that the Australian government stands shoulder to shoulder with Fiji in combating transnational crime and stopping drug trafficking in the Pacific.”

Mr Conroy stated that assistance was being provided to Fiji through patrol boats.

“And today we are announcing that we are providing financial support to Fiji to acquire an integrated border management system to track persons of interest.”