‘No role’ for China in policing Pacific islands, Australian minister says

The comments from Australia’s Pacific Minister Pat Conroy come after a news report said that Chinese police will begin working on the island nation of Kiribati

News of Chinese police working there comes as Beijing renews a push to expand security ties in the Pacific Islands in an intensifying rivalry with the US

Reading Time:2 minutes

Christmas Island, Kiribati. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 4:22pm, 29 Feb 2024

Australia’s Pacific Minister Pat Conroy said there should be “no role” for China in policing the Pacific Islands, and Australia will train more local security forces to fill gaps, after Reuters reported Chinese police are working in Kiribati.

The United States on Monday cautioned Pacific Islands nations against assistance from Chinese security forces, after Kiribati’s acting police commissioner Eeri Aritiera told Reuters last week that uniformed Chinese officers were working with its police in community policing and a crime database programme.

There are no Australian police in Kiribati, although Canberra has pledged to fund a new police radio network, police barracks and two maritime security advisers are supporting Kiribati police to maintain a donated patrol boat.

Kiribati is a nation of 115,000 people whose closest island is 2,160km (1,340 miles) south of Honolulu, and the news of Chinese police working there comes as Beijing renews a push to expand security ties in the Pacific Islands in an intensifying rivalry with the United States.

“We are aware that they are seeking a greater security role in the Pacific, and we have been consistent in our view that there is no role for China in policing, or broader security, in the Pacific,” Conroy said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday.

Australia’s Pacific Minister Pat Conroy (left), seen with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape, says that China has ‘no role’ in policing the Pacific islands. Photo: EPA-EFE

Pacific Island leaders had agreed in 2022 at a meeting of the Pacific Island Forum regional bloc to fill any security gaps from within the “Pacific family”, he said.