By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The Pacific Islands Forum has endorsed a plan to boost police numbers among its members, cutting the need to rely on external forces in a crisis, with China security ally Solomon Islands supporting the Australian-funded initiative on Friday.
The bloc of 18 nations has the potential to play a strong and active role in regional security, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, the forum’s chairman, said on the final day of an annual meeting of leaders.
The Pacific Islands were “a region of collaboration and support and working together, rather than a region of competition and a region where other countries look to try to gain an advantage over us”, he told a press conference in Tonga.
Some analysts see the plan to set up a regional policing unit to be deployed to tackle major incidents as a move by Australia to block China’s growing police presence in the region, amid strategic rivalry between Beijing and Washington.
The Solomons, which has police ties with Australia, the forum’s largest member, as well as China, which is not a member, said it had agreed to the Pacific Policing Initiative.
“We also endorse, as part of developing this initiative, the importance of national consultation, so that it is owned and driven by countries, so we really do appreciate the initiative,” said Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele.
Tonga’s Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni said it would reinforce the existing regional security architecture.
The leaders had also agreed to the terms of a fact-finding mission to New Caledonia, riven by months of riots, for talks with relevant parties to try and resolve the crisis, he said.
The French territory belongs to the forum, where there is support among several Melanesian nations for the independence aspirations of its indigenous Kanak population.
The forum has accepted U.S. territories Guam and American Samoa as associate members, a final communique showed.
Sovaleni highlighted the need for more resources for the Pacific to ameliorate climate change, urging donor nations to contribute in helping the Pacific Resilience Facility to reach a higher funding target of $1.5 billion.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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