Fiji’s prime minister yesterday said that China should not be allowed to gain a permanent military foothold in the strategically contested South Pacific region, adding that a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait would impact Pacific islands.
Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said China does not need a military base in the region to project power, as shown by an intercontinental ballistic missile test.
China has spent years cementing its influence in a string of Pacific island nations, challenging traditional security partners such as the US and its ally Australia.
Photo: Bloomberg
The islands are trying to cope with a big, powerful China seeking to spread its influence, Rabuka told the National Press Club in the Australian capital, adding that Beijing understood he would lobby other Pacific leaders against such a base.
“Pacific leaders in all their recent discussions have tried to go for policies that are friendly to all and enemies to none — and it is a fairly tough course to steer, but it is possible,” he said.
The Pacific would feel the impact of any conflict over the Taiwan Strait between major powers, a possibility already being planned for by China and other nations, he said.
Fiji opposes the establishment of a military base by China, he said, in response to queries on Beijing’s security ambitions in a region where it already has a security pact with the Solomon Islands and a police presence in several nations.
“If they want to come, who would welcome them?” he said. “Not Fiji. And I think that China understands that well.”
China’s embassy in Fiji did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Beijing has previously ruled out establishing a military base in the Solomon Islands.
China did not need a base to project power, as Beijing tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in September last year that flew over Fiji to land in international waters, Rabuka said.
China showed off its coast guard to 10 visiting leaders of Pacific islands last month, after registering two dozen of its vessels with a regional fisheries commission last year, although it has yet to start South Pacific patrols.
The China Coast Guard would need to “observe our sovereignty, our sovereign waters,” Rabuka said.
Fiji’s cooperation with China to develop infrastructure should not affect how it interacts with Australia, New Zealand and the US, he added.
To manage strategic competition in the region, Rabuka is trying to build support for an Ocean of Peace treaty to ensure outsiders respect its unity and the “rejection of coercion as a means to achieve security, economic or political advantage.”
Leaders of the 18 members of the Pacific Islands Forum are to consider the pact at a meeting in September.
Beijing has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building sports stadiums, government offices, hospitals and roads in Pacific nations such as the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
The diplomatic charm offensive has already borne fruit. Kiribati, the Solomon Islands and Nauru have in the past few years severed longstanding diplomatic links with Taiwan in favor of China.
The Solomon Islands is seen as a particularly close friend of China in the region, after it in 2022 signed a secretive security pact with Beijing, fueling fears China might seek to use the archipelago as a military base.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
RSS