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A union of Melanesian nations on Wednesday issued a sweeping regional surveillance plan that was supported by Pacific leaders despite the warning that it should not be used by Australia and New Zealand for geostrategic purposes.  ,
The Pacific Policing Initiative, or PPI, is supported by Australia and is seen as a counterbalance to the growing Chinese influence in the area, which has recently become a focal point for international competition between big power.  ,
In the Tongan money Nuku’alofa, officials from Australia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, and Palau were greeted by the media to declare that the Pacific Islands Forum had supported the police action.
The five-member Melanesian Spearhead Group, or MSG, released a statement claiming parts of the PPI were” mysterious” and needed to be calibrated for Pacific requirements.  ,
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated on Wednesday that the forum’s main goal was to support the law enforcement system.
” By working together, the safety of the place will be much stronger and will be looked after by ourselves”, Albanese said.
” Royal state claims will of course decide how to join in this.”
Australia has suggested investing about$ 400 million ( US$ 272 million ) in training facilities to enhance regional policing capabilities under the PPI, including the creation of a regional hub in Brisbane.  ,
While China looks to strike diplomatic policing agreements, some analysts believe the American government is convinced that the initiative is Pacific-led and that it also serves as a way for Canberra to maintain its position as the island’s leading security partner.
In 2022, China negotiated a mysterious security pact with the Solomon Islands, but unsuccessfully attempted to reach a region-wide protection deal with almost a hundred Pacific nations.  ,
Fiji earlier this year , amended a , officers cooperation , agreement , with Beijing, scrapping a clause that allowed Chinese officials to be deployed in Fiji.
On Tuesday, the MSG – which includes Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the pro-independence Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front, or FLNKS– said the PPI may fit the needs of Pacific regions.  ,
In his opening address to a conference meeting in Tonga, Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai, the present head of the MSG, said,” We need to make sure that this PPI is framed to fit our objectives and never developed to meet our goals.  ,
At the same conference, MSG Director General Leonard Louma said the policeman deal was a “worthy action” but some aspects were also” cryptic”.
Although Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and the FLNKS were not present for the statement on Wednesday, two MSG leaders were present to congratulate the agreement.  ,
The Pacific needed to strengthen its safety equipment, according to PNG Prime Minister James Marape, in order to support its neighbors. He also thanked “big lovers” Australia and New Zealand for their contributions to the needs of the Pacific, and he mentioned that PNG would have one policeman training facility.
Sitiveni Rabuka, the head of Fiji, claimed that regional cooperation and training had been beneficial for his nation’s police force in the past.
The prime minister said that it is our responsibility to create our own police initiative because the majority of the issues we face are provincial issues.  ,
The creation of up to four local police training facilities to get located in Pacific countries is one of the three pillars of the PPI, according to Albanese. Additionally, it will have a pool of officers that will be available for use in local crises, as well as a development and cooperation hub with a base in Brisbane.  ,
Siaosi Sovaleni, the prime minister of the Tongan, stated that community members had the freedom to choose how they may relate to and benefit from the three pillars as their guiding principle.  ,
” Tonga, like many other places, is facing a number of international security issues, including an increase in drug smuggling within the Pacific in recent years”, he said.  ,
” So I think it is truly important to have a Pacific-led, Pacific-owned initiative that reinforces the existing regional security architecture”.
After the offer was announced, the officials left without taking questions from the internet.
The Lowy Institute’s Pacific islands program’s director, Mihai Sora, described the agreement as a significant accomplishment for the Pacific countries at a time when local cohesion was threatened and dangers were mounting.
Of course, the Pacific countries are also free to engage in individual police activities with different partners. Sovereignty is paramount”, he told RFA internet BenarNews. However, this program aims to fill those policing spaces that China claims to be addressing.
Speaking on the bleachers of the website, Pacific civil society organizations claimed that community involvement with the police action had been unsatisfactory.
According to Pacific Women Mediators Network’s Sharon Bagwan Rolls,” there’s a lot of response taking place more than deep thinking, analysis, and really listening.”
” Conventional security measures are also connected to individuals, so it does have to come back through the website process, back into civil world,” he said.
