Australia tries to strengthen ties with the Pacific islands, coveted by China

The new head of Australian diplomacy recalled the determination of the new Australian government to act in the face of the climate crisis and in particular the rising waters, already at work in certain Pacific countries such as the Kiribati archipelago.

AFP PHOTO/Torsten BLACKWOOD

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is currently on a tour of eight Pacific island countries.

A trip which comes a few weeks after the signing of a security pact with the Solomon Islands, and which Beijing recently proposed to extend to ten other countries in the region.

The Australian Labor government, just invested, wants at all costs to slow down the Chinese advance in its immediate orbit, and to tighten the links, distended under the Morrison era, with these island nations of the Pacific. 

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With our correspondent in Sydney

,

Grégory Plesse

As soon as the

Quad

was completed, Penny Wong, the new head of Australian diplomacy, was on her way to Fiji.

On the spot, she undertook “ 

to make up for a lost decade

 ” and to restore the status of “ 

privileged partner

 ” of Australia in the region.

Penny Wong warned the countries of the region which would be tempted, like the Solomon Islands last month, to sign a security pact with China, at a time when Chinese diplomacy is boasting precisely this form of cooperation, that she wants to replicate with other countries in the region.

►

To read: In the South Pacific, Beijing boasts of its regional free trade and security agreement

Increase humanitarian aid and work visas

To dissuade them, Penny Wong promises an increase in humanitarian aid from Australia and easier visas for workers in the region.

But above all, she recalled the determination of the new Australian government to act in the face of the climate crisis, a message received very positively by the leaders of the region, for whom the rising waters, already at work in certain countries, constitute the worst threat.

A commitment to break with the immobility of Scott Morrison on the subject, and very warmly welcomed by the Fijian Prime Minister.

►

To listen: "The Chinese Foreign Minister's trip to the Pacific is historic"

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