Australian National Review – Defense ministers in the South Pacific meet against a backdrop of rising tensions

A week after Beijing launched an ICBM test targeting the Pacific Ocean – the first in three decades – defense ministers from across the Pacific gathered for their ninth annual meeting.

Other concerns at the South Pacific Defense Ministers Meeting (SPDMM) were overshadowed by an evolving security landscape marked by increasing aggression from Beijing.

The meeting, hosted by New Zealand, brought together defense ministers, defense chiefs and defense secretaries from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, France, Tonga, Chile and Papua New Guinea, as well as observers from Japan, the United Kingdom Kingdom, and the United States.

The SPDMM provides Pacific countries with a forum to develop joint strategies, enhancing their defense capabilities and their ability to protect their collectively vast exclusive economic zones (EEZs).

New Zealand Defense Minister Judith Collins noted the recent missile launch, acknowledged that the Pacific was facing “a very difficult geopolitical situation compared to ten to fifteen years ago,” and emphasized the need for collective action to strengthen the regional to ensure safety.

“What we are seeing is unprecedented from my experience and reading of history,” she said.

“Action in the Pacific and also in Europe and the Middle East, all together, all at the same time – the enormous support we need to be able to give to our neighbors is quite clear.

“In a region of this size, it is critical that we work together to find regional solutions to regional problems.”

“Members agreed on the importance of cooperation with civilian agencies in supporting humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and in combating threats to maritime security such as illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing and transnational organized crime,” said Collins.

“These are issues that have a significant impact on many South Pacific countries, which, like New Zealand, have large exclusive economic zones.”

In the past, the militaries of Pacific island nations have deployed collectively in response to cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, forest fires and floods to restore stability to damaged and devastated communities.

That action will soon be coordinated through the Pacific Response Group (PRG), which SPDMM ministers endorsed and called for its immediate establishment.

There will also be a PRG Pacific Special Advisory Team (PSAT) – a small, rapidly deployable group available to support civil authorities and other organizations in an affected state in planning a disaster response and identifying possible follow-up tasks. It will be based in Brisbane for rapid mobilization during the upcoming high-risk weather season.

For the first time, the Pacific Islands Forum was also present at the meeting, represented by Secretary General Baron Waqa.

But when pressed on the issue of CCP aggression, he said: “We would like to keep the Pacific Ocean a peaceful area, a peaceful zone that everyone recognizes and respects, and with this ballistic missile test in the Pacific Ocean, in our region, is a big, big concern for us, and we say a big no, no to China.”