Fiji announces to scrap security pact with China

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Fiji will scrap a 2011-signed security pact with China, the island nation’s newly elected Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has said.

“There’s no need for us to continue, our systems are different,” said Rabuka, who leads a coalition government.

Rabuka, 74, head of the People's Alliance Party, was elected prime minister on Dec. 24, 2022 after stitching an alliance with two other parties. He won the prime ministerial election by one vote over his predecessor Frank Bainimarama.

The pact signed by the Fiji Police Force and China’s Ministry of Public Security allows Fijian police officers to receive training in China, while Chinese officers are deployed to Fiji “on attachment programs for three to six months,” daily the Fiji Times reported.

The cooperation was further elevated in Sept. 2021, when a Chinese Police Liaison officer was appointed to be based in Fiji.

“Our system of democracy and justice systems are different so we will go back to those that have similar systems with us,” said Rabuka, who was the instigator of two military coups in 1987 and also served as prime minister from 1992 to 1999.

Meanwhile, Fiji President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere on Friday suspended the country’s Commissioner of Police Sitiveni Qiliho, who is facing investigation, the media outlet said, adding that Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem has also been suspended.