Interpol for the islands: AFP chief Krissy Barrett’s Pacific push to counter China
Australia will lead a UN police summit to establish a Pacific regional policing bloc, directly countering China’s expanding security influence across the region.
Australia will push for a new global regional policing bloc for the Pacific when it hosts the United Nations Chiefs of Police summit for the first time, countering the growing influence of China and giving Pacific nations access to UN peacekeeping deployments.
After the Albanese government last month lost the right to stage the UN COP31 climate change conference, The Australian can reveal Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett and AFP representatives will lead the UNCOPS summit at the UN General Assembly in New York next year.
While Europe, Africa, the Americas, Southeast Asia and Arab countries have their own regional policing bodies, the Pacific region has no official designation despite emerging as a magnet for China’s geostrategic power plays and a hub for surging transnational crime. Commissioner Barrett, who will appear at a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday, said it was clear the UN understood the Pacific region’s “policing perspectives” should be reflected in its policy settings.
Beijing’s aggressive push to embed security personnel and exert influence over Pacific police forces was headlined by a 2023 deal struck between China and the Solomon Islands, which included an implementation plan on policing scheduled to run until the end of 2025. A broader security deal was signed by the countries in April 2022.
While the AFP boasts a longstanding relationship with Pacific police chiefs and played a central role in the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, Beijing has expanded its security presence in Honiara and provided equipment and training for Solomon Islands police officers. The Australian in September revealed Chinese police are working with Solomon Islands counterparts fingerprinting citizens and getting them to fill out household registration cards under the guise of “community policing”.
In response to the encroachment of Chinese policing in the region, Anthony Albanese last year announced a $400m, five-year Pacific Policing Initiative package, which was backed by Pacific Islands Forum leaders. The PPI, promising up to four regional police training centres of excellence in the Pacific, involves the AFP training and preparing a multi-country Pacific Police Support Group that can be used for major event management and crises in the region. Australia is forecast to deliver $2.2bn in official development assistance to the Pacific in 2025-26.
As the Albanese government and Western nations offer security alternatives to China, Pacific leaders and law enforcement heads have expressed a desire for access to UN peacekeeping deployments across the globe, which would deliver an economic boost and give their officers’ international experience.
Commissioner Barrett said she would use her UN address next year to advance a Pacific regional policing bloc for multilateral engagement and “amplify the voice of Pacific Island police and encourage their deployments to future peacekeeping missions”.
The AFP chief, who replaced Reece Kershaw on October 4, will use the UNCOPS summit to progress her strategy of “supercharging” the AFP’s global operations and deepening international collaboration to “combat emerging and evolving criminal threats in the Indo-Pacific”.
The biennial UNCOPS summit will be attended by heads of national police, ministers, and senior government officials from 193 UN member states.
After last week attending Interpol’s four-day general assembly in Morocco, where she spoke with counterparts about assisting Australia’s fight against illicit tobacco traffickers and neo-Nazis, Commissioner Barrett said Pacific policing voices must “be heard within global bodies, particularly given growing concerns about cybercrime, illicit commodity trafficking and organised crime in the region”.
“The regional leadership and ambition of Pacific chiefs is clear, and their desire is for regional solutions to our shared security challenges,” she told The Australian. “Pacific police are valued partners for the AFP and together we are clear-eyed and determined when it comes to protecting our region from complex criminal networks. It is important that we continue to build our resilience together as we counter challenges to the global rules-based order.
“It is important we acknowledge that the dedication and hard work of Pacific police agencies have helped keep Australians safe from organised crime. This engagement builds on sustained AFP diplomatic efforts at the UN in New York to ensure the region’s policing perspectives are understood and reflected in UN policy settings.”
The call from Pacific leaders for stronger representation on the global stage comes after China last year foiled a high-powered bid by Australia to win one of two vacant Asian delegate positions on Interpol’s executive committee. China and Qatar claimed the Interpol positions ahead of the AFP’s nominee.
In addition to international drug smuggling running through the Pacific, Pacific Islanders are being exposed to narcotics which some fear could fuel HIV and AIDS cases. Papua New Guinea has declared HIV a national crisis, while Fiji last year recorded 1600 new HIV infections.
Commissioner Barrett said progressing the role of policing in peacekeeping and increased need for specialised policing capabilities to fight the “ever-evolving complexities of transnational crime” would be UNCOPS priorities. “The AFP continues to be a strong backer for Pacific Island police to contribute more actively to international peacekeeping efforts,” she said.
“The AFP this year launched the world’s first UN accredited police peacekeeping program, tailored specifically for the Pacific region and Timor-Leste. At our Pinkenba facilities in Brisbane, the AFP hosted 100 participants from 11 countries across the Pacific and Timor-Leste to obtain essential skills required for UN deployment.
“The training program marked a significant step forward in supporting Pacific police preparedness for UN deployments.”
Australia’s selection to host UNCOPS – convened by the UN under-secretary general for peace operations – followed extensive engagement in New York and ongoing advocacy highlighting the Pacific’s peace and security priorities. Commissioner Barrett said Pacific nations including Australia, which has deployed thousands of police to UN peacekeeping efforts over the past 61 years, had traditionally been among the greatest contributors to UN peacekeeping forces.
“Countries in the Pacific region have hosted missions and contributed to them, to support their neighbours, resolve conflicts and maintain a more secure and peaceful region. Pacific countries are highly responsive to regional security needs, and a great example was the contribution of PNG, the Solomon Islands and Australia, through the Pacific Police Support Group, to swiftly deploy to Vanuatu after the fatal December 2024 earthquake.”
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