China police a threat to Pacific

There may have been no direct mention of China when AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw addressed police chiefs from 22 Pacific nations on the Gold Coast on Wednesday. But it would be a surprise if what has been described as Beijing’s brazen quest “to create an alternative security network across the Pacific” by injecting itself into key roles in the police services and security apparatus of various small Pacific Island states was not uppermost in the minds of delegates attending the Pacific Island Chiefs of Police forum.

As Ellen Whinnett reported, the forum, established in 1970, encourages a “Pacific first” response to regional security problems. Mr Kershaw talked up the bond between Pacific nations, saying it was “based on shared values and a commitment to our democratic way”. He also, however, outlined “an increasingly complex environment” that presents “multifaceted security challenges” and warned of the need to tackle them with “by the Pacific, for the Pacific” solutions.

It is imperative Pacific police chiefs and their governments heed that warning. The geopolitical security threat posed by China’s persistent attempts to inject itself and its oppressive methods into influential roles within Pacific Island police forces is all too clear. And this week has brought further evidence of that.

Amid a deepening political crisis in Vanuatu, the Chinese embassy in Port Vila announced an undisclosed number of Chinese “police experts” had arrived with quantities of “equipment”. The embassy statement specified “handcuffs”. It said “the Chinese police experts … will greatly enhance the ability of the Vanuatu police to maintain social order”. That’s hard to believe given the entirely alien nature of Chinese police methods to the Pacific.

Similarly misguided language was, however, used recently when Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare concluded his controversial deal with Beijing that includes embedding armed Chinese police at headquarters in Honiara. There has been similar embedding in other states across the region, despite Pacific leaders’ rejection of a pact proposed by Beijing that would have given China wholesale influence over policing, Customs, cyber security, communications, deep sea mining and more in 10 island states. The proposal fell apart after David Panuelo, then president of Micronesia, warned it was a “smokescreen” for Chinese “control” over their countries.

The threat posed to the sovereignty of Pacific nations is clear. Mr Kershaw’s call for solutions “by the Pacific, for the Pacific” could not be more timely or appropriate.