Pacific Ports Join Australian Group Amid Increasing Beijing Influence

Smoke billows out of a chimney stack of BHP steelwork factories at Port Kembla, south of Sydney, Australia. AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File

Five ports in the Pacific have joined an Australian association to improve trade and maritime relations amid increasing influence from Beijing in the region.

Fiji Ports Corporation, Samoa Ports Authority, Cook Islands Ports Authority, Lyttleton Port Company from New Zealand’s South Island, and the Port of Napier from New Zealand’s North Island have joined as external associate members of Ports Australia, which has called the move linking ports and maritime sectors across the Pacific a “massive step forward.”