China will seek a wide-ranging security and economic deal with 10 Pacific countries during Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to the region this week, Reuters news agency reported.
Wang is scheduled to arrive 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 between May 26 and June 4.
During the trip, Wang will participate in the second foreign ministers meeting of China and the Pacific Islands in Fiji where he is expected to push for a five-year action plan and a joint statement.
The draft statement, shared with Reuters, outlines how China and the Pacific countries can “strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the areas of conventional and non-traditional security.”
Details include a planned free trade zone between China and the Pacific Islands, as well as agreements on police training and law enforcement operations, as well as plans for cooperation on data networks, cybersecurity and smart customs.
The last point will give the Chinese tech giant Huawei the green light to enter the Pacific market and build 5G networks.
The company has been banned from operating in several Western and US-allied countries due to security concerns about its close ties with the Chinese state. According to Reuters, the United States and Australia have so far banned Huawei from building submarine cables and mobile phone networks in the Pacific.
The draft plan alarmed at least one Pacific nation, the Federated States of Micronesia, a close ally of the United States.
President David Panuelo has reportedly sent a letter to other heads of state in the region urging them not to accept the statement, which would give China undue leverage, according to a letter seen by the news agency.
He also warned that it could stoke tensions in the Pacific and help spark another “cold war” between China and the United States.
“The practical implications … of Chinese control of our communications infrastructure, ocean lands and resources within them, and our security space, apart from the effects on our sovereignty, are that they increase the chances of China entering into conflict with Australia, Japan, the United States and New Zealand.”
Panuelo also expressed caution against allowing China to participate in the mass surveillance of Pacific islanders and customs data.
However, the letter also contained some criticism of Australia, whose lack of sharing with the Pacific was cited as a major reason for China gaining a foothold in some countries in the region after the Solomon Islands signed a security agreement with Beijing earlier this year. .
On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Pacific region should be wary of a potential deal and expressed concern that it was “negotiated in a hasty and opaque process.”
“It is worth noting that [China] It has a pattern of offering opaque and opaque deals with little transparency or regional consultation in areas related to fisheries, related to resource management, development assistance and, most recently, even security practices.”
He also said the prospect of a security agreement is worrisome, and will “seek only to stoke regional and international tensions and heighten concerns about Beijing’s internal expansion of its internal security apparatus in the Pacific.”
Australia’s newly appointed foreign minister, Penny Wong, is also on her way to the Pacific less than a week after taking office.
She was heading to Fiji on Thursday and is expected to meet Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama as well as Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Henri Bona.
“The visit, in my first week as foreign minister, demonstrates the importance we place on our relationship with Fiji and on our engagement in the Pacific,” Australian public broadcaster ABC quoted Wong as saying.
“Australia will listen to our Pacific partners as we work together to address our common challenges and achieve our common goals – including tackling climate change, pandemic recovery, economic development and regional security.”
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