Pacific Island leaders endorse joint policing plan

Pacific Island leaders endorsed a landmark regional policing plan Wednesday at a summit in Tonga, a contentious move seen as an attempt to limit China's security role in the region.

Leaders unveiled a plan to create up to four regional police training centers and a multinational crisis reaction force, backed by $271 million in initial funding from Australia.

Under the plan, a corps of about 200 officers drawn from different Pacific Island nations could be dispatched to regional hot spots and disaster zones when needed and invited.

"This demonstrates how Pacific leaders are working together to shape the future that we want to see," said Australian Prime Minister Albanese, hailing the agreement.

The Australian leader made the announcement while flanked by leaders of Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga—a symbolic show of unity in a region riven by competition between China and the United States.

Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni, the summit host, said the initiative would plug regional security gaps and tackle emerging threats like organized crime.

"Tonga, like many other countries, is facing a number of transnational security challenges, including an increase in drug trafficking within the Pacific in recent years," he said.

The great game

According to Mihai Sora of the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank, Wednesday's announcement was a diplomatic victory for Australia and for the Pacific Islands Forum, a regional bloc that had appeared deeply divided on the topic.

China's Pacific allies—most notably Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands—had voiced concern that the policing plan represented a "geo-strategic denial security doctrine," designed to box out Beijing.

While all...