Singapore: Beijing has put one of its key Pacific partners offside by attempting to push through a security deal and threatened New Zealand for supporting opposition to the regional agreement.

As Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi enters the final stages of his 10-day Pacific tour, Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Mataʻafa accused China of attempting to ram through a Pacific-wide trade, policing and security deal without enough time for consultation.

“Our position was you cannot have regional agreements if the region has not met to discuss it,” Mataʻafa said. “To be called into discussion and have an expectation that there will be an outcome was something we could not agree to.”

Mataʻafa, who became prime minister in May, also revealed that many of the deals signed by her and Wang on Saturday which spanned climate change, economic recovery and police fingerprinting were already in place. “Most of them have started a number of years ago, and it was the formalising process which is a normal process,” she said. “It just seemed a bit abnormal because the [Chinese] Minister of Foreign Affairs is here.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who visited Apia to meet with Mataʻafa on Thursday praised the Samoan leader for her leadership in the regional forum and respect for its processes to “deal with some of the external circumstances we all find ourselves in”.

“I think it was a very wise intervention,” she said.

The Chinese trade and security proposal failed to get consensus from Pacific Island leaders when it was raised in Fiji on Monday, forcing Beijing to issue a watered-down position paper on the region with no security guarantees. The lobbying against the deal by Australia, the United States and New Zealand was met with backlash in Beijing after US President Joe Biden and NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern issued a joint statement opposing China’s military intentions in the region.

“The hype-up of relevant issues in the joint statement by the US and New Zealand is out of ulterior motives to create disinformation and attack and discredit China,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. “The US has military bases all over the world, yet it expresses concerns about normal security cooperation with other countries.”

NZ Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said it was “important for the Pacific to lead the priorities and the solutions that will determine their long-term resilience.”

The comments followed a veiled warning to the NZ business community by China’s ambassador in Wellington, Wang Xiaolong, on Tuesday night.

Describing New Zealand’s branding as a “green, clean, open and friendly country” as its greatest asset, Wang said China’s public perceptions could not be taken for granted.

“It is thus incumbent upon us, as stakeholders in, and custodians of, the relationship, to protect it carefully, use it wisely, and make sure it will not be squandered,” he said.

China’s former ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye made more direct but similar comments about Chinese students and consumers in April 2020 before China launched $20 billion worth of trade strikes against Australia over human rights, coronavirus and national security disputes.

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https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/beijing-puts-more-pacific-countries-offside-as-penny-wong-tours-region-20220602-p5aqog.html

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