MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — 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 his Fijian counterpart 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 will invest more than 1 billion
Australian dollars ($693 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 United States and New Zealand signed in 1951 and the bilateral treaty signed with Papua New Guinea last year.
“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 told reporters.
“It does not threaten Fiji’s relationship with China nor Australia’s relationship with China,” he added.
Rabuka said the new bilateral agreements were anchored on three central pillars: deeper security cooperation, enhanced economic integration and strengthened people-to-people connection.
“This is a clear affirmation of Australia’s sustained commitment to the stability, resilience and prosperity of the Blue Pacific region at a time of global uncertainty,” Rabuka said.
“These treaties reflect our shared understanding of the evolving and interconnected challenges that are facing our region,” he added.
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 will fly to the Solomons on Tuesday to meet with his counterpart Matthew Wale after the two nations agreed to further discussions on a security pact.
Wale said while visiting Australia last month that his new government would review the deal with Beijing.
On Wednesday, Albanese will host Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape and Tongan Prime Minister Fatafehi Fakafānua 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 creating 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 may be targeted at Beijing.
