New Zealand and Australia have belatedly hit back at the Chinese foreign minister's sudden and rapid blitz of the Pacific
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has accused Beijing of unnecessary expansion of its security reach, as MPs urge her to counter the superpower's "persuasion and pressure".
And Australia's new foreign minister has flown urgently to Fiji in a last-ditch bid to dissuade Pacific Island nations from signing up to a new Chinese security pact.
The Solomons and Kiribati have already tentatively agreed to allow Chinese forces to visit as required, to protect that country's investments and personnel. Now Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi is seeking the signatures of leaders of Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia – and even New Zealand realm nations Cook Islands and Niue.
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► Ambassador champions China’s increased security presence
► Chinese visit steps up battle for the hearts and debts of the Pacific
► Terence Wood: Foreign powers already have boots on the ground
► Stephen Hoadley: Solomons an over-reaction or legitimate concern?
► NZ troops patrol China-US proxy war in Solomon Islands
Cooks Prime Minister Mark Brown has confirmed, in response to Newsroom questions, that he will discuss security and debt financing with Wang, when they talk this week.
It appears Ardern didn't become aware of the proposed pact until as recently as last week, when Micronesian president David Panuelo wrote warning of a new Cold War. New Zealand was caught on the back foot again, as it was when the two realm nations signed up to China's Belt & Road infrastructure financing initiative in 2018 when ministers were advised, "we're being gamed right under our noses".
Wang Yi flew into Honiara late on Wednesday night and met with Solomons leaders yesterday. He dismissed international concerns about the security agreement Beijing sealed last month with Honiara, saying it was "above board, with honesty and integrity".
“We have within the Pacific the means and ability to respond to any security challenges that exist ... Where that need exists, New Zealand stands ready to respond to it.” – Jacinda Ardern, NZ Prime Minister
He added: "It is not imposed on anyone, nor is it targeted at any third party". He assured a few assembled journalists (whose numbers were depleted by a Solomons media boycott) that China had "no intention at all" of building a military base in Solomon Islands.
Earlier, China's Ambassador to New Zealand told Newsroom, in his first ever media interview, that China had a duty to provide security support where Pacific countries requested it. Chinese people and property had repeatedly been targeted across the region, Wang Xiaolong said. "In Solomon Islands alone, the country has been subjected to four riots over the space of less than 20 years. And every time, members of the local Chinese community have borne the brunt of what happened – the damages to the property and the loss of lives."
On this occasion, Ardern responded more firmly than she did in 2018. She told a news conference in Washington DC that the Pacific is New Zealand's home and any security challenges should be addressed by Pacific nations.
"I see the communique as China's trying to increase its engagement with sovereign nations, but expanding into a space — the need around security arrangements — that we are able to meet within our region," she said.
"We're very strongly of the view that we have within the Pacific the means and ability to respond to any security challenges that exist, and New Zealand is willing to do that," Ardern said.
"It's not for us to speak on behalf of other Pacific Island nations but what I can say is that where that need exists, New Zealand stands ready to respond to it.”
Ingrid Leary, the co-chair of New Zealand's Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, expressed particular concern about the two realm nations signing up to Chinese security. New Zealand does already provide that security, the Labour MP told Newsroom. "We are a close neighbour, they are realm countries. There is no need for anybody else to step in at this point."
"The Pacific Islands currently are really fragile, given the impacts of Covid on their tourism, given climate change, so it can be seductive to accept offers of help and support and cooperation from larger countries and larger actors. But they all have long-term implications.
"And we know that Pacific Islands, despite the pressures, are also incredibly resilient. I think what New Zealand and Australia need to do is look at how do we counter some of the persuasion and pressure that is going on?
"We will never be able to compete on scale and money. But where we have incredible strength is through our people-to-people relationships. We have Pasifika culture in our DNA and relationships are very important to Pacific Islanders, and we need to really leverage off that.
"I think we need to be strengthening our visits to and from the Pacific, exchanges, looking at our tertiary programmes and how we can support future leaders so that they have a reference point in New Zealand and Australia and like-minded countries that have democracy and the rule of law.
"It's really interesting that the draft document, which has been leaked, talks about democracy and the rule of law and upholding those things – but China isn't actually a democracy. So there are a lot of things in that document that speak to Western values, that are not necessarily reflected in the way China conducts itself in the world."
On the other side of the Parliament, National foreign affairs spokesperson Gerry Brownlee says New Zealand has been "blindsided".
