Australia has signed a security, climate change and migration accord with Tuvalu, a grouping of several low-lying coral atolls in the South Pacific Ocean. Analysts say the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili union also highlights Canberra’s attempts to counter China’s growing influence in the region.
For the first time, the Canberra government is offering residents facing displacement from global warming in other countries the opportunity to resettle in Australia.
Tuvalu’s government says rising sea levels pose an existential threat to its population of 11,000 people, who live on nine low-lying islands. A new visa plan will allow 280 islanders to move to Australia each year. Analysts say the numbers are modest but could increase if climate risks accelerate.
There will also be funds for reclamation in Tuvalu to expand land in the capital, Funafuti, by around 6%. The archipelago lies about halfway between Australia and Hawaii.
The announcement was made Friday by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook Islands.
“The most significant agreement between Australia and a Pacific Island nation ever. The treaty covers three main areas of cooperation; climate change, human mobility and security. Australia commits to provide assistance to Tuvalu in response to a major natural disaster, to a health pandemic or to military aggression," he said.
The agreement establishes Australia as Tuvalu’s main security partner.
While most Pacific Island countries have formal diplomatic relations with China, Tuvalu recognizes Taiwan. Australia is increasingly wary of Beijing’s ambitions in the region. Last year, China signed an unprecedented security pact with the Solomon Islands, a strategically located archipelago northeast of Australia.
Kausea Natano is Tuvalu’s prime minister. He told reporters that his country also seeks good relations with China.
“China came also to ask for our diplomatic ties, and we said yes, we agree. But because of their One China policy, they did not allow us to have two diplomatic ties with Taiwan and them," he said.
Analysts believe the accord is an attempt by Australia to increase its regional presence at a time when China is eager to expand its influence in the Pacific.
Meg Keen is the director of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based research organization. She told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the accord boosts Canberra’s security ties with Tuvalu.
“What it does give us is visibility should they want to enter into an agreement as a sovereign state, which they are free to do, with, say, China and switch their allegiance from Taiwan to China or have some sort of security agreement with China they should first let us know and then, of course, there would be dialogue on that. It is not a veto that we get as a product of this,” said Keen.
On Sunday, Australia’s minister of foreign affairs, Penny Wong, reaffirmed Canberra’s desire to increase its influence in the Pacific region, telling local media “we recognize we live in a more contested region, and we have to work harder to be a partner of choice.”
There has, so far, been no reaction from Chinese officials to Australia’s bilateral accord with Tuvalu. The Falepili pact is an agreement named after a Tuvaluan phrase meaning good neighborliness, care and mutual respect.
