Australia and Fiji on Monday signed a new bilateral defense alliance in a second major diplomatic win within a year for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese against Chinese influence in the South Pacific.
Albanese and the Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka signed the Ocean of Peace Alliance in Fiji’s capital Suva. They also signed an economic treaty, the Vuvale Union, under which Australia would invest more than 1 billion Australian dollars (US$693.3 million) in its island neighbor over a decade.
The alliance is Fiji’s first mutual defense treaty. It is Australia’s fourth, following a treaty with the US and New Zealand signed in 1951 and the bilateral treaty signed with Papua New Guinea last year.
Photo: AFP
“The Ocean of Peace Alliance introduces a mutual defense obligation, and there’s no higher obligation than to come to each other’s aid at a time of need,” Albanese told reporters.
Rabuka did not expect a negative reaction from Beijing to the new treaties.
“I do not expect China to have any severe pushback on either government. And I believe that they will welcome the understanding that is between Australia and Fiji,” Rabuka said. “It does not threaten Fiji’s relationship with China nor Australia’s relationship with China.”
Australia has been attempting to shore up its role as the security partner of choice in the region since 2022 when China struck a secretive security treaty with the Solomon Islands. That deal raised fears of a Chinese naval base being built in the South Pacific.
Albanese is flying to the Solomons today to meet with the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands Matthew Wale after the two nations agreed to further discussions on a security pact. Wale said while visiting Australia last month that his government would review the deal with Beijing.
Tomorrow, Albanese hosts Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape and Tongan Prime Minister Fatafehi Fakafnua in the Australian city of Brisbane.
The Australian defense treaty with Papua New Guinea, the country’s nearest neighbor, takes effect Wednesday.
Australia and Vanuatu last week signed a long-awaited bilateral security and economic treaty that prevents China from building a military base on that island nation.
Albanese signed the so-called Nakamal Agreement with his Vanuatu counterpart, Jotham Napat, in the Australian capital nine months after the Vanuatuan government rejected an earlier draft. Vanuatu had feared the deal would limit its ability to attract infrastructure investment.
China expressed concern last week that the Nakamal Agreement might be targeted at Beijing.