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China, Australia foreign ministers arrive in Pacific to vie for influence -Breaking

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi takes a photo before meeting Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States. This was taken on the sidelines at the G20 Summit in Rome (Italy), October 31, 2021. Tiziana Fabi/Pool via REUTERS

SYDNEY (Reuters), Australia’s Prime Minster Anthony Albanese suggested that Canberra should “step up” and support the Pacific islands. The visit of China’s Foreign Minister to the region was in order for a broad regional security agreement.

Albanese stated that Australia must respond after Reuters published a draft communique indicating China would seek to negotiate with 10 Pacific islands countries on security, trade and policing.

Albanese stated that his Labor government has pledged more support for islands countries in maritime security and climate change. He also promised to boost aid to allow Pacific Islanders to move to Australia.

Sky spoke to him on Thursday, saying that they must “step up” and not “regress”, as he said under the old government.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong is visiting Fiji this Thursday, to meet the prime minister. It will be her first Pacific trip since she was sworn into office on Monday.

China’s Foreign Ministry Wang Yi visited Solomon Islands in the early hours of Thursday. It was the first stop in an eight-nation-long tour. Next week, he will be hosting a meeting in Fiji with Pacific foreign Ministers where he will try to agree on a five-year plan.

At least one nation has objected to the draft communique that China circulated to the Pacific islands. It claimed it demonstrated China’s intention to dominate the region and threatens regional stability.

In spite of objections by Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United States, Solomon Islands signed a security deal with China.

China denies this. It claims that the agreement is focused only on domestic police and Western criticism was interference in Solomon Island’s sovereignty decision-making.

Albanese stated that the Pacific Islands made their own decisions.

We need to recognize that they are sovereign countries and that we have to respect them. But we also need to offer more support. Otherwise, the Solomons’ deal will be a disaster. Albanese stated that China views this as one of the many.

Wong and Albanese arrived back from Tokyo’s Quad Meeting on Wednesday. There, the necessity to boost climate change support for Pacific islands was raised to combat China’s influence.

Solomon Islands media outlets announced they would boycott Thursday’s press conference, because Wang had been restricted from being questioned locally.

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