The US warns against China sending police to the Pacific island nation 0
(Dan Tri) – The US warned Pacific island countries not to support Chinese security forces, after Reuters reported that Chinese police were working in Kiribati.
Joint patrol force of the US and Kiribati (Photo: BNN).
`We do not believe that receiving security forces from China will help any Pacific island nation. Instead, doing so risks fueling regional and international tensions,` the person said.
The US official added that Washington does not accept China’s `transnational pressure efforts`, including efforts to establish police stations around the world.
`We are concerned about the potential impacts that security agreements and cybersecurity cooperation involving China could have on the autonomy of any Pacific island country,` the spokesperson said.
Previously, Reuters reported that Chinese police are participating in policing efforts and a crime database program in Kiribati.
Reuters quoted Eeri Ariteira, acting director of the Kiribati police force, as saying that Chinese police have arrived on the island and worked with local police, but there are no Chinese police stations in Kiribati.
More than 10 uniformed Chinese police arrived in Kiribati last year on a six-month rotation.
Kiribati location on the map (Photo: Encyclopedia).
Kiribati, a country located in the central Pacific Ocean with a population of 115,000 people, is considered strategic due to its important geographical position despite its small size.
Kiribati is relatively close to the US Hawaiian Islands and controls one of the world’s largest exclusive economic zones, covering more than 3.5 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean.
Washington has planned to build an embassy in Kiribati to compete with Beijing but has not yet done so.
Reuters reported on February 26 that the US Coast Guard and Kiribati inspected two Chinese fishing boats during an anti-illegal fishing patrol in the Pacific island nation’s vast exclusive economic zone.
A spokesman for the US Coast Guard in Guam said Kiribati police officers patrolled with the US Coast Guard for the first time in nearly a decade.
The United States is demonstrating a greater role for its coast guard in the Pacific region.
