The security needs of island states are glaring. Their vast Pacific Ocean, covering an area bigger than every continent combined, is by one estimate the world’s largest unpoliced space. Illegal fishing boats pillage its rich stocks of tuna. Drug-trafficking is growing. Criminals use the Pacific as a transit route for methamphetamine and cocaine headed from the Americas to Australia and New Zealand.China hosts Pacific officers for training and is showering cash-strapped forces with equipment. Those advances have caused jitters in Australia, which has long been what Anthony Albanese, its prime minister, calls the “security partner of choice” for Pacific nations. Australia will build several new training centres for Pacific police, including one in Brisbane, and finance a multinational unit of Pacific officers to be deployed during riots or natural disasters. Is China really a threat to the west ?
