Australia inks second Pacific security deal in blow to China

Ben Westcott, Bloomberg News on Dec 8, 2024

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Australia has signed a treaty with the Pacific nation of Nauru which gives Canberra a veto over security and infrastructure partners, dealing another blow to China’s efforts to expand its strategic presence in the region.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the new pact alongside Nauru’s President David Adeang in Canberra on Monday, saying the treaty between the two nations would take the relationship “to a new level.” It’s the second such agreement Australia has made with a Pacific nation in just over a year.

“The treaty provides that Nauru and Australia will jointly agree to any engagement by other countries in Nauru’s security, banking and telecommunications sectors,” Albanese said in a statement to reporters. “This treaty will make our region stronger and it will make it safer.”

Albanese announced a similar pact with Tuvalu following the Pacific Island Forum meeting in the Cook Islands in 2023. Both treaties are major wins for the Australian government, which has been ramping up its diplomatic efforts in the Pacific since China inked an agreement with the Solomon Islands in 2022.

Under the latest deal with Nauru, Australia will provide the nation with $100 million over five years in direct budget support to strengthen Nauru’s economy, as well as an additional $40 million to improve the Pacific nation’s security forces. The Australian government said in a statement that it expects the treaty to come into effect by the end of next year.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has also agreed to provide services in Nauru from 2025 under the agreement, after Bendigo Bank departs next year.

However in its 2023 pact, Australia agreed to provide greater migration assistance for the citizens of Tuvalu who needed to flee the damaging effects of climate change, none of which appears to be part of the new deal with Nauru.