Leading military, police and political figures in Fiji have raised concerns about striking deals with other countries such as China to boost security and policing, saying it could pose a risk to sovereignty.
Analysis by the Guardian found that Fiji has at least 12 significant agreements with countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Most of the pacts and initiatives are with Australia, followed by New Zealand, the US and China. Fiji has struck or renewed policing and defence deals with Australia, New Zealand and the US in the past five years. Earlier this year, it opted to stick with a controversial China policing deal after a review.
Some argue the deals could threaten Fiji’’s independence, while acknowledging the need for support to combat crime as threats in the Pacific region grow.
Fiji, one of the largest Pacific island countries with a population of nearly 1 million, faces rising external threats including transnational crime, maritime security and cyber warfare. Domestically, crime rates are increasing and police resources are stretched.
“There is a growing need for more security and policing cooperation in the Pacific to address the evolving security challenges facing the region,” Fiji military forces commander Maj Gen Jone Kalouniwai, said.
Kalouniwai said “information sharing, joint training exercises, capacity building and coordinated responses to security threats” are needed to combat rising threats.
But the major general cautioned that accepting any aid must be weighed against the impact on Fiji’s sovereignty.
“Balancing the need for external assistance with maintaining independence and ensuring the protection of local interests is crucial for sustainable security cooperation in the Pacific,” Kalouniwai said.
Permanent secretary for home affairs and immigration, Mason Smith, said the question of whether Fiji would need to choose its partners strategically was based on the “false premise that Fiji must choose between China or its so-called traditional partners.”
“Why is this? As a sovereign nation, Fiji will engage with partners based on its own national interest,” he said.
China’s role in the country has stirred tension over a policing agreement first signed in 2011 that in the past, allowed Fijian officers to be trained in China, and Chinese police to be embedded in the Fijian force.
In March, Fiji’s home affairs minister told the Guardian the country would uphold the agreement with Beijing despite earlier concerns within the Pacific nation over the deal - but Chinese officers would no longer be embedded in the local force.
Former police strike back commanding officer Tevita Ralulu questioned whether Fiji should use international partners, such as China, to carry out policing work. Ralulu also said that ties with Fiji’s traditional partners, Australia and New Zealand, should be maintained.
“Government needs to be precise with where they are going, given China’s present influence in the region,” Ralulu said, adding that the previous Fiji government, under prime minister Frank Bainimarama, was more inclined to Beijing.
Given their location, Pacific countries hold strategic importance for security and defence. The US has long maintained influence and a military presence in the region, and pushed strengthen its role to counter competition from China. Over the last decade, Beijing has built stronger ties with Pacific nations through increased aid, development, diplomacy and security cooperation.
Ralulu said Beijing had stamped its growing interest in the region through its aid such as in Solomon Islands, where China bankrolled the construction of sporting facilities ahead of it hosting the Pacific Games last year.
Ralulu said Fiji should be cautious about China’s presence in Fiji and the region, saying the rise of China had coincided with an increase in drugs and criminal activities in Fiji.
“What is most important is how these policies and international partnerships is implemented to help grassroots people,” Ralulu said, stressing the need to evaluate and ensure any agreement aligned with Fiji’s national interest.
Former member of parliament Niko Nawaikula agreed longstanding ties with Australia and New Zealand must be maintained to support security. He said the growing militarisation in the region, including the rise of China, was “not a concern so long as we are aligned with our traditional partners.”
“Australia, New Zealand and the United States, we need to stick to that,” he said, also saying that Fiji needed assistance from international donors to train and adequately resource its police and defence forces.
‘Risks’ of security alliances
University of the South Pacific head of the school of law and social sciences, Sandra Tarte, said Fiji needed policing partnerships to combat transnational and domestic crime – while adding that there are potential dangers involved with partnerships.
“The risks are being drawn into security alliances, security strategies that are going to undermine our independence and autonomy and make us a target,” Dr Tarte said.
“We must be mindful that in the geopolitics contest, we don’t want to be seen as someone’s target. Fiji needs to make it clearer that it does not want to see any more militarisation happening through defence programmes,” Tarte said.
Dr Tarte said Fiji’s military had some of autonomy and they could decide who they wanted to partner with and “they can go to China and procure what assistance they need.”
“It gives Fiji more leverage in its dealing with other countries being in partnership with China … it is very important that Fiji is acting with its own interest in mind.”
Kalouniwai stressed the need for Fiji and the Pacific to be cautious and vigilant about the rising militarisation in the region and must continue to “advocate for peaceful solutions.”
Inside Fiji, Nawaikula said the nation was looking to others to solve problems that existed within the Fiji police force.
“There’s a lot of incompetence in policing. It is really entrenched … and so they are going everywhere including China, United States, Australia, and New Zealand to look for solution,” he said.
Nawaikula said, in addition to international support, local systems must be improved.
“We need to look at ourselves first. There can never be an improvement unless and until you clean up the system,” he said.
