China's Xi backs Fijian PM's Pacific plan ahead of regional meeting

By Joe Cash

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping told visiting Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka he backed his "Ocean of Peace" plan during a meeting in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese state media reported, days ahead of a summit for Pacific Island leaders in Tonga.

China also pledged to step up its trade ties with the archipelagic state, which wants to upgrade its ports and ship building, roads, and sewage infrastructure, but can only do so through securing better terms for its agricultural and fisheries exporters owing to deep debts.

"China appreciates Prime Minister Rabuka's vision for an Ocean of Peace and is committed to working with Fiji to contribute to international peace and security," Xi said, according to a readout released late Tuesday night.

Rabuka will visit Tonga next week for a meeting of the heads of 18 Pacific island countries and territories that will consider a regional policing proposal backed by Australia.

Ahead of his 10-day China tour, Rabuka said he would not "upset the apple cart" on regional security in the Pacific, where China and the U.S. are competing for influence.

Rabuka, who returned as prime minister in 2022, has proposed an "Ocean of Peace" foreign policy to Pacific leaders that envisions engagement with all major powers and avoids militarisation of the islands region.

"I am very much encouraged by your principles, your ideas on peaceful coexistence, on the principles of progress. They are in line with what I have in mind for the concept of the Ocean of Peace," Rabuka told Xi, and said he would mention the Chinese leader's support for the plan at next week's summit.

China also agreed to invest in Fiji's tourism, agriculture and fisheries industries and support a road upgrading project on the country's second-largest island, the readout added.

While the Pacific Island states tend to offer a poor return on investment, analysts say Fiji is strategically important to Beijing as it sits at the southern end of the "the second island chain", an area stretching up to Japan that China's navy seeks control of.

China has also started to pay the region more attention as it steps up efforts to diplomatically isolate Taiwan, which Beijing views as part of its territory, and sever the island's relations with the nearby Pacific nations of the Marshall Islands, Palau and Tuvalu.

Fiji owes China, the world's biggest bilateral lender, just over $218 million, according to World Bank data. Following his election win in 2022 Rabuka has turned towards Australia for additional aid donations.

Former Fiji leader Frank Bainimarama struck a policing agreement with China a decade ago, but Rabuka called time on that arrangement and in June announced a "police force reset" that will see it work more closely with Australia.

(Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)