Fiji and New Zealand are set to finalize a military agreement next week to deepen security ties, the Fijian leader said on June 7, as the Pacific island nation placed China’s police cooperation deal under review.
Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka made the remarks this week during his visit to New Zealand, where he met with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and other government officials.
The new military deal will allow Fijian defense officials “to undertake engagement in different areas, including capacity building and upskilling and exposure to new technologies interoperability and technical support, among others,” Rabuka said.
Geopolitical competition in the Pacific has intensified since China struck a military deal last year with the Solomon Islands that Pacific nations are concerned could allow China to station its troops and weapons there.
Rabuka believes that militarization can be averted through the pursuit of “diplomacy and common neighborly discussions.” He also hinted at the possibility of Fiji terminating its policing agreement with China, which his predecessor, Frank Bainimarama, signed in 2011, citing the differences in their respective systems and values.
“If our systems and our values differ, what cooperation can we get from them?” Rabuka said, referring to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“We need to look at that again before we decide whether we go back to it or if we continue the way that we have in the past by cooperating with those who have similar democratic values and systems.”
Rabuka has previously said that Fijian security forces would work with personnel from Australia and New Zealand, who he believes have systems comparable to Fiji.
Fiji’s Concerns About China
China’s reemergence in the Pacific region has the potential to “reform the peaceful atmosphere we now have,” Rabuka said during an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in January.“That is something we have to avoid, and it can be avoided by frank responsible dialogue,” he told the news agency.
Rabuka believes that Australia and the United States have an antiquated way of approaching diplomatic ties and engagement with Fiji. Comparing the two partners to China, he noted that he sees the Asian nation as having a different strategy.
“China has come in with a blank sheet of paper. They have seen us as just development partners,” he said.
Bainimarama and former police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho, who oversaw the China policing deal, face criminal charges of abusing their power, as does former Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who was widely seen as Bainimarama’s right-hand man.
