Australia's top diplomat to visit Samoa, Tonga trailing Chinese counterpart / Photo: SAEED KHAN - AFP
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Australia's top diplomat to visit Samoa, Tonga trailing Chinese counterpart
Australia's recently sworn-in Foreign Minister Penny Wong is heading back to the Pacific Islands Wednesday, travelling to Samoa and Tonga just days after her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
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As Australia and China duel for influence in the vast region, Wong announced she was getting back on a plane to "renew and strengthen Australia's deep ties of friendship and family".
Since being sworn in nine days ago, Wong has already visited Japan -- for a meeting of Quad countries the United States, India, Japan and Australia -- and Fiji.
Her latest trip comes as China's foreign minister Wang Yi barnstorms through the region, looking to significantly deepen Beijing's influence.
Although Wang failed to secure support for a regional security deal that would have seen Beijing play a bigger role in sensitive areas like policing and cybersecurity, Wang has been inking a series of agreements on each of his stops.
In Tonga on Tuesday, he pledged China's support for sports stadiums and wind power projects, according to state media, while signing a series of deals on disaster prevention and mitigation, agriculture, fisheries and healthcare.
In Samoa late last month, Wang signed a bilateral agreement that included a plan to build a police fingerprinting lab, in addition to an already announced police academy in the country.
Wang's ten-day trip concludes with stops in Vanuatu on Wednesday and Papua New Guinea on Thursday and Friday.
Australia's new centre-left government is playing catch-up after years of relations with the Pacific Islands being hampered by the conservative government's foot-dragging on climate change.
Rising sea levels are seen as an existential threat by many of the low-lying Pacific Island nations.
Visiting Fiji, Wong said Australia would set new, more ambitious emissions targets and bid to co-host a future UN climate conference with Pacific Island countries.
There would be no more "disrespecting" Pacific nations or "ignoring" their calls to act on climate change, she said.
A.Mariani--LDdC
