On Friday, Australia announced security guarantees for the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu in response to military aggression, protection from climate change and migration incentives as part of a pact aimed at countering China’s influence in the Pacific, Reuters reports.
Australia will also verify Tuvalu’s security arrangements with other countries. This will be done under a treaty announced by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Tuvalu counterpart, Kauzea Natano.
Albanese said it was Australia’s most significant agreement with a Pacific island nation, providing “an assurance that if Tuvalu asked for any military assistance on security issues, Australia would be there”.
Tuvalu is one of 13 nations that maintains formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Under the treaty, “both countries undertake to mutually agree on any partnership, arrangement or engagement with any other state or entity on the security and defence of Tuvalu,” Albanese told a news conference on the sidelines of a meeting of Pacific leaders in the Cook Islands.
An Australian government spokesman said the requirement applies to any Tuvalu arrangements on cybersecurity, telecommunications, defence, police, ports and energy.
While Australia has defence agreements with other Pacific island nations, in a region where China recently concluded a security pact with the Solomon Islands and is looking to expand its ties in policing and infrastructure projects, the pact with Tuvalu goes much further in positioning Australia as a key security partner.
Australia will allow 280 people a year to migrate from Tuvalu, boosting remittances to the island nation of 11,000 people, which is threatened by rising sea levels caused by climate change.
Natano said Tuvalu requested the treaty to “secure and support each other as we face the threat of climate change and geostrategic challenges.” He said limiting the number of visas for a year would ensure migration to Australia “does not cause a brain drain”. Albanese said:
“The Australia-Tuvalu Falepili union will be regarded as a significant day in which Australia acknowledged that we are part of the Pacific family.”
Funds will also be allocated for reclamation in Tuvalu to increase the land area in the capital Funafuti by about 6 per cent.
Tuvalu, made up of nine low-lying islands halfway between Australia and Hawaii, is among the countries most at risk from climate change and has long drawn international attention to the issue. At the COP27 climate summit last year, Tuvalu said it plans to create a digital version of itself, replicating the islands and landmarks and preserving its history and culture.
A plan announced last month by Canberra and Washington to fund a new submarine cable in the Pacific Ocean will connect Tuvalu, which relies on satellite communications, to the cable for the first time. A government spokesman said Australia sees deepening economic and social integration with the Pacific islands as a way to ensure the region’s security.
