Marise Payne warns China over fishing in Torres Strait
Marise Payne has delivered a warning to China amid moves to establish a ‘fishery industrial park’ in the region.
Marise Payne has warned Australia won’t tolerate Chinese vessels plundering Torres Strait fisheries under a $200m fisheries operation in Papua New Guinea’s Western Province.
China’s Fujian Zhonghong Fishery Company signed a memorandum of understanding in November with the PNG government and the Western Province administration to build a “multifunctional fishery industrial park” on the island of Daru.
The prospect has alarmed Australian border and national security officials, given the track record of Chinese vessels in illegal fishing and maritime militia operations.
The Foreign Minister told the Senate on Thursday the Australian government had been in contact with PNG to ensure Australian interests “are fully safeguarded” under its deal with the Chinese company.
She said Australian Border Force vessels would strictly police the Torres Strait’s traditional-only fishing rules.
“We expect all fishers in the Torres Strait region to follow respective Australian and Papua New Guinea laws, and international obligations,” Senator Payne said.
“Commercial scale fisheries would not be considered a traditional activity under the Torres Strait Treaty and would not be permitted.
“Only residents of the protected zone are able to undertake such activities, which is intended to protect the air, the sea, the land of the Torres Strait, including the native plant and animal life, including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild flora and fauna such as dugong and turtles.”
Independent Senator Rex Patrick, who raised the matter in the Senate, said the establishment of a permanent Chinese fishing operation in Daru, on the edge of the Torres Strait, “would be contrary to Australia’s national interests, including our security”.
“Such a facility in Daru would provide a new foothold for Chinese government influence in resource-rich PNG and would raise significant security issues for Australia.
“Chinese fishing fleets also have a well-known tendency towards over exploitation of marine resources, so there is also a potential threat to the delicate marine ecosystems of the Torres Strait.”
He urged Senator Payne to work with PNG to develop an alternative proposal that would not jeopardise Australian interests.
Chinese Ambassador to PNG Xue Bing said the new fisheries-focused industrial park was “a vast opportunity for Papua New Guinea”.
But Jeffrey Wall, a former adviser to PNG’s government, said the waters around Daru were “not known for an abundance of fisheries”, raising questions about China’s motives.
“The fact that the plant will lie just a few kilometres from Australian island communities is a likely reason,” he said in an article for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute site, The Strategist.
“It’s hardly comfortable, and certainly not in Australia’s strategic interest, to have a major Chinese government resource exploration project right on our northern doorstep.”
The project falls under Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.
“If Australia is to stop the project from proceeding any further, it will need to move fast,” Mr Wall said.
“Whatever Australia opts to do, its response will have to be substantial, people focused and readily achievable.”
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