In Brief: Fiji minister highlights climate change threat

SINGAPORE • Fiji's Defence Minister said yesterday that climate change posed the biggest security threat in the Asia-Pacific region, a shift in tone at a defence summit that has been dominated by the war in Ukraine and disputes between China and the US.

The low-lying Pacific islands, which include Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, are some of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the extreme weather events caused by climate change.

Fiji has been battered by a series of tropical cyclones in recent years, causing devastating flooding that has displaced thousands from their homes and hobbled the island's economy.

"In our blue Pacific continent, machine guns, fighter jets, grey ships and green battalions are not our primary security concern," Mr Inia Seruiratu, Fiji's Minister for Defence, said at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's top security meeting. "The single greatest threat to our very existence is climate change. It threatens our very hopes and dreams of prosperity."

The meeting, which closed yesterday, was dominated by debate over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and rising tensions between the United States and China over everything from Taiwan's sovereignty to naval bases in the Pacific.

The Pacific islands became a focus of regional tensions this year after China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands in April, alarming the US, Australia and New Zealand, which fear a stepped-up military presence by Beijing in the Pacific.

Beijing has said it is not establishing a military base in the Solomon Islands and its goal is to strengthen security cooperation with Pacific island nations. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi toured the Pacific islands last month in the hope of securing a sweeping regional trade and security pact, but the island nations were unable to reach a consensus on a deal.

Mr Seruiratu played down fears of a battle for influence in the Pacific islands while highlighting his country's willingness to work with a range of nations. "In Fiji, we are not threatened by geopolitical competition," he said in his speech. "We have to adapt how we work and who we work with to achieve stability."

REUTERS

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Australia's talks with China a 'key first step'

SINGAPORE • Australian and Chinese defence ministers met for the first time in three years yesterday, with the talks described as "an important first step" following a period of strained ties.

Mr Richard Marles, whose centre-left government came to power last month, held talks for over an hour with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore.

Mr Marles, who is also Australia's Deputy Prime Minister, described the meeting as "an important first step" and "very significant". "It was an opportunity to have a very frank and full exchange in which I raised a number of issues of concern to Australia," he said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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Philippine minister faints during ceremony

MANILA • Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana fainted during an Independence Day ceremony yesterday morning, and the Department of National Defence said he is "in stable condition".

Mr Lorenzana arrived from Singapore early yesterday morning after attending the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue and meeting with his foreign counterparts. The department said Mr Lorenzana fainted due to fatigue after back-to-back engagements in Singapore, South Korea and different parts of the Philippines, Rappler reported.

XINHUA