Australia and Palau say they will press Pacific leaders to issue a clear condemnation of China’s recent ballistic missile test when they meet later today, rejecting claims from Kiribati and Naoero that it is unfair to single out Beijing.
The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) meeting finishes today in Palau, with leaders holding their annual retreat at a residence owned by the family of the Pacific nation’s president Surangel Whipps Jr.
A host of Pacific nations issued unusually strong criticisms of China after a submarine from the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in the South China Sea fired a missile with a dummy warhead more than 7,000 kilometres into the Pacific, landing just outside Tuvalu’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
But Kiribati and Naoero refused to back a joint statement on the test at the PIF Foreign Ministers Meeting last month, stirring frustration in Canberra and Wellington.
Kiribati’s President Taneti Maamau told his country’s parliament last month that his country did register concerns with Beijing over the test, but suggested it would be unfair to criticise China when the US also conducted missile tests, firing into the waters of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
“We are trying to be fair,” said.
“America has been bombing, and testing its bombs … in the Marhsall Islands, islands near us, and why don’t we ask questions or criticise America?“
But Anthony Albanese told journalists in Palau that comparison did not hold water.
“The situations are very different,” Mr Albanese said.
“The US gives proper notice, has an agreement with the Marshall Islands.
“What we saw with the Chinese test was a firing of a missile with very little notice, certainly not what is expected internationally, from a submarine which went across and landed in the Pacific, near Naoero, near Tuvalu, with no respect for those nations.”
It is not yet clear where the negotiations on the politically sensitive topic will land, although Australia has been increasingly pessimistic about the chances of reaching a consensus on a strong statement.
Surangel Whipps Jr is hosting Pacific leaders this week in Palau. (ABC News: Mark Moore)
Last month Pacific ministers made a brief reference to the test in its joint communique, calling for “transparency and reassurance” on nuclear testing, noting that several Pacific nations had expressed concern about China’s test.
Surangel Whipps Jr, who has been the region’s most vocal China critic, said it was critical for the Pacific to present a united front on the issue, and also said the Republic of the Marshall Islands comparison was not valid.
“The United States has an agreement with the Marshall Islands. They notify, and they say it’s going there,” he said.
“What about the rest of us in the Pacific? Don’t we deserve the same?“
He also suggested China’s decision to fire the missile deep into the South Pacific, rather than further north, was designed to be disruptive.
“There’s a lot of space between Japan and Guam — why don’t you send it there?” he said.
“Why does it have to come to the middle of the Pacific … We don’t want our backyard, our homes, to be threatened and really disrespected.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian last month dismissed concerns about the test, saying that “the allegations from the Palau side are groundless, ill-intentioned and not worth further commentary”.
