Australia and Vanuatu strengthen ties by signing new bilateral security agreement

A bipartisan trip to the Pacific this week is paying off with Australia and Vanuatu strengthening their security ties in a major setback for China’s regional ambitions.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau signed a new bilateral security agreement during a closed-door meeting in Port Vila on Tuesday.

The pact, which is only Australia’s second legally binding security treaty with a Pacific country after the Solomon Islands, will allow the two nations to enhance security dialogue to raise issues from humanitarian support and cyber security to illegal fishing and economic coercion.

The Vanuatu Prime Minister said formalising the partnership between the two countries was “the embodiment of our relationship” based on the proximity of the nations and the need to look after each other’s interests.

Senator Wong argued Australia had not beaten China to the deal, but that security was a “shared regional responsibility”.

“We all have a responsibility to ensure that our sovereign decisions are part of the security of all members of the blue Pacific, and we’re deeply proud to be the Vanuatu principal security partner of choice,” Senator Wong said.

“As two nations committed to democratic accountability and transparency, we will ensure that the agreement is made publicly available.”

Australia has been working to bolster its standing in the Indo-Pacific amid growing influence from Beijing, which entered a security pact with the Solomon Islands in April.

It also follows China’s failed attempt to expand that security agreement with eight other Pacific countries.

Vanuatu was not one of them but China previously had looked at at developing a port on one of the country’s northeastern islands.

Senator Wong did not deny signing similar agreements with other Pacific neighbours but said it was up to individual countries on how they engaged and why.

It comes amid progress on a new defence treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea.

“Decisions about how a country wishes to engage with us, what level of cooperation, what priorities that country articulates are issues for that sovereign nation,” she said.

“We as Australia come to that discussion with respect — mutual respect. We come to it with the recognition that we are equal partners. That is how we deal with these issues.”

Opposition Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Birmingham, who is also on the four-day trip with Pacific Minister Pat Conroy and his Coalition counterpart Michael McCormack, said the inspiration for the new treaty started under his government in 2018.

“In a challenging and contested world, Australia and Vanuatu are at our strongest when we stand together and when we work together,” Senator Birmingham said.

Later in the day, the Australian delegation planted mangroves as part of a restoration project and then donated a boat to Vanuatu’s police force while opening its new $9.8 million Mala Base Wharf.

The wharf will accommodate Australia’s donated Guardian-class patrol boat, which was built at Henderson in WA and provide a secure berth for visiting Australian vessels.

Senator Wong was gifted a squealing piglet from the Vanuatu Government for the donation of the wharf and vessels, which will be cared for by a staff member of the Australian High Commission in Vanuatu.

She then invited Mr Kalsakau to come to Australia next year for an official visit, on behalf of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

On Wednesday, the delegation will move on to Micronesia to mark 35 years of diplomatic relations between Australia and the Pacific nation and will visit a school to see Australian support for the education sector in action.

The trip will conclude with a visit to a solar farm in Palau on Thursday, following the launch of a program that digitised clinical patient information and data.