Australia is planning to significantly strengthen surveillance of the territorial waters of Pacific island countries, allocating AU$477 million (approximately US$310 million) for aerial patrols of illegal fishing fleets. At the same time, China is planning to dispatch coast guard ships to the region.
According to the Fiji Times, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to visit Fiji on Friday, June 13. Last week, the government led by Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka approved a maritime security agreement, with Australia providing funding for a patrol boat for Fiji. Australia will conduct commercial aerial patrols to assist Pacific island countries in monitoring their exclusive economic zones spanning millions of square kilometers of ocean. In April this year, Australia established a new monitoring center in Fiji to combat illegal fishing.
Recently, Reuters reported that the Chinese Coast Guard is preparing to board and enforce laws in the high seas of the Pacific Ocean for the first time. This move could escalate tensions with Taiwanese fishing fleets operating in the same region.
Two weeks ago, the Chinese Coast Guard demonstrated the enforcement capabilities of a large patrol ship to ministers from 10 Pacific island countries, including Fiji. This ship is regularly used for maritime law enforcement in the Taiwan Strait.
According to officials from the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), China has registered 26 coast guard ships for patrols in the Pacific, but actual boarding inspections have not yet begun. China has not commented on this matter.
Over the years, Australia has donated more than 20 patrol boats to Pacific island countries and regularly sends navy and air force patrols to combat illegal fishing.
Sangaa Clark, CEO of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) representing nine Pacific island countries and overseeing the world’s largest tuna fishing grounds, stated that the organization has not invited Chinese patrols and relies on surveillance funded by Australia, as well as patrols conducted by Australia, New Zealand, France, and the United States.
Peter Connolly, a researcher at the University of New South Wales and an expert on Pacific security issues, noted that Chinese Coast Guard patrols in the region could bring “geopolitical tension to fisheries enforcement in the Pacific.”
He stated, “This is particularly significant because the most common illegal fishermen in the Pacific come from mainland China and Taiwan.”
(This article was adapted from Reuters reports)