Page 32 - Islands Business March 2022

Security Security

AUSTRALIA HANDS OVER

BLACKROCK

AS CHINA CONCERNS RE-EMERGE

By Samantha Magick boats donated by Australia. The patrol boat program stretches
across the Pacific, with Federated States of Micronesia just
The opening of the Blackrock Camp in Nadi this month receiving its first, the SS Tosiwo Nakayama, under the Pacific
signified the culmination of “close to a A$100 million invest- Patrol Boat Replacement Project.
ment” by the Australian government designed to support Fiji’s
peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance capacity. Providing for peacekeeping
Australia’s Minister for International Development and the Fiji has participated in international peacekeeping opera-
Pacific, Zed Seselja said while he didn’t have the total value tions for 42 years, and remains one of the largest contributors
of the investment, he put it in that ballpark. to international peacekeeping missions per-capita.
Australia funded new buildings, training facilities, a medical “Where peacekeeping operations are required, we will go,”
centre, accommodation and a secure armoury. The project said Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama at the opening of
involved local labour worth $1 million a month, over the Blackrock. “And we will go better prepared than ever before
30-month project. to contend with the complexity of cyber warfare, the ferocity
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called it a “new of traditional conflict, and the worsening wrath of nature.”
chapter” in Fiji and Australia’s “shared story”. But it also sig- Close to home, Fiji, Australia, Papua New Guinea and New
nifies the importance Australia places on the security aspects Zealand recently provided peacekeepers to Solomon Islands
of its aid program in the Pacific. in the wake of unrest there at the end of 2021. Australia says
Beyond Blackrock, Australia is also supporting the construc- its troops will stay there until December 2023, and PNG troops
tion of a maritime essential services centre in Suva, a new have been welcomed back for a return mission, with the
Fiji Navy headquarters and upgrades to the Stanley Brown Solomon Islands government saying PNG has a number of big
Wharf, which will accommodate two Guardian-class patrol investments in Solomon Islands, an embassy and SI$40 million

32 Islands Business, March 2022