WORLD NEWS | Fiji rethinks security ties with China amid Pacific tensions

WELLINGTON, June 7 (AP) – Fiji’s leader said Wednesday his country is rethinking its security relationship with China amid heightened geopolitical tensions in the Pacific.

Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said Fiji was reviewing a controversial 2011 police cooperation agreement with China that allowed Chinese police to be stationed in Fiji.

Read also | US shooting video: Two dead in shooting at Virginia Commonwealth University campus graduation ceremony in Richmond

At one point during Wellington’s news conference with New Zealand’s foreign minister, Chris Hipkins, Rabuka appeared to go a step further by referring to Fiji as “terminating” the agreement.

“If our systems and values ​​are different, what cooperation can we expect from them?” Rabuka said, referring to China.

Read also | Fact check: No, Sweden doesn’t host a “sex championship.”

“We need to look at it again before we decide whether to go back to it, or whether we continue the way we’ve done it by working with those who have similar democratic values ​​and institutions.”

Fiji expanded its security agreement with China in 2013 to include some military cooperation, but Rabuka made no direct reference to the arrangement on Wednesday.

China has previously said the security agreement has benefited Fiji and hopes to continue cooperating.

In December, Rabuka defeated Frank Bainimarama, who had ruled Fiji for 16 years, in a tight election. Since then, Rabuka has distanced himself from some of Bainimarama’s policies, including moves to build closer ties with China.

Meanwhile, Bainimarama and former police chief Sitivini Chirijo, who oversaw the Chinese policing agreement, now face criminal charges of abuse of power, as does former attorney general Ayaz Saeed Kaiyum, He is widely seen as Bainimarama’s right-hand man.

Competition for influence in the Pacific has intensified between the United States and China in recent years.

Last month, the United States signed a new security pact with Papua New Guinea, strategically north of Australia. The United States also opened embassies in the Solomon Islands and Tonga and resumed Peace Corps volunteer work.

Last year, the Solomon Islands signed its own security pact with China, a move that set off alarms across the Pacific. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)