PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor: Week 31

PRC Pacific Embassies Monitor^*

Eight Pacific States Report to Beijing’s Top Cop — Last Week in the Pacific

Summary of PRC Activity

China convened the Fifth Ministerial Dialogue on Police Capacity Building with Pacific Island Countries in Beijing, drawing delegations from eight of the nine countries this monitor tracks. Samoa’s Deputy Prime Minister traveled to Shanxi and PNG’s Mining Minister visited Tianjin for separate engagements with Chinese provincial officials.

This Week’s Big Themes:

Pacific Police Report to Beijing

On 8 September, PRC State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong convened the Fifth Ministerial Dialogue on Police Capacity Building and Cooperation between China and Pacific Island Countries. Vanuatu’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Andrew Napuat, co-chaired. Delegations from Fiji, Kiribati, Naoero, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu attended, along with Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza and the director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s Asia-Pacific office. The Federated States of Micronesia did not attend.

Wang used the session to tally up China’s policing aid: 22 contingents of Chinese police officials dispatched to Pacific countries, more than 650 Pacific officers trained in China, and 38 batches of donated equipment. The Solomon Islands’ account of the dialogue adds that Wang briefed delegations on a three-year cooperation initiative running 2027 - 2029 and encouraged Pacific countries to participate voluntarily. This monitor could not confirm further details on the initiative.

Tonga sent Sevenitini Toumoua, Minister for Customs and Inland Revenue—the same minister Ambassador Liu Weimin pressed on border security in February. The Solomon Islands sent its Ambassador to China, Barrett Salato, rather than a policing or law enforcement official. Salato said the Solomon Islands would seek cooperation that acknowledges its National Security Strategy, ensures sustainability, and serves national interests: a carefully worded set of conditions on Chinese policing engagement.

Wang met co-chair Napuat in a bilateral meeting where the two signed cooperation documents. That signing appears only in the Chinese-language Xinhua report; the Vanuatu Embassy release omits one of the three cooperation areas the Chinese text attributes to Wang. Both versions cite combating illegal immigration, transnational crime, and law enforcement capacity building; only the Chinese text includes fugitive repatriation and asset recovery.

The next day, more than 2,100 participants from 139 countries convened in Lianyungang, Jiangsu, for the 2026 Conference of Global Public Security Cooperation Forum—the Ministry of Public Security’s regular annual forum. PNG’s Police Minister John Pundari attended, as did a dei-Naoero social media influencer. Separately, four members of the Tongan armed forces departed for professional training in China.

Supporting Events

• Vanuatu: Fifth Ministerial Dialogue on Police Capacity Building
• Regional: Xinhua Chinese Readout of the Fifth Ministerial Dialogue
• Solomon Islands: Ambassador Salato Attends Ministerial Dialogue
• Tonga: Minister Toumoua Represents Tonga in Beijing
• Papua New Guinea: Police Minister Attends Global Public Security Cooperation Forum
• Nauru: Delegation at Global Public Security Forum
• Tonga: HMAF Members Depart for Training in China

Provincial Ports of Call

Samoa’s Deputy Prime Minister, Mulipola Anarosa Ale Molio’o attended the 10th High-Level Taiyuan Energy Low Carbon Development Forum in Shanxi Province as a guest of honor and delivered opening remarks. On the sidelines, she also met the Forum’s host Tang Dengjie, Secretary of the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee. Tang described the visit as Samoa’s first participation in the forum and proposed deeper provincial collaboration. Mulipola raised Samoa’s COP priorities—climate finance access and adaptation support—and noted that roughly 90 Samoan students currently study at Chinese universities.

On 11 September, PNG’s Mining Minister Solen Loifa addressed the China Mining Conference and Exhibition in Tianjin, urging Chinese investors to consider PNG and outlining six regulatory reforms meant to attract greater mining investment. Separately, a PNG delegation met officials at Wuhan University of Technology to discuss STEM scholarship cooperation, with the PNG Wuhan Students Association facilitating the meeting.

Supporting Events

• Samoa: Deputy Prime Minister Meets Shanxi Party Secretary
• Papua New Guinea: Mining Minister Addresses China Mining Conference
• Papua New Guinea: Delegation Meets Wuhan University of Technology