SUVA, Fiji: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with leaders and top officials from ten Pacific Island states Monday, part of a regional diplomatic blitz that has stirred deep Western concern.
The virtual summit is expected to discuss leaked proposals for China to radically increase its involvement in the security, economy and politics of the South Pacific.
Wang is in the Fijian capital Suva, where he will co-host a virtual meeting with regional foreign ministers — many of whom are also leaders of the small island states.
On the table is a secret deal — obtained by AFP — that would see China train local police, become involved in cybersecurity, expand political ties, conduct sensitive marine mapping and gain greater access to natural resources on land and in the water.
As an enticement, Beijing is offering millions of dollars in financial assistance, the prospect of a China-Pacific Islands free trade agreement and access to China’s vast market of 1.4 billion people.
Only Pacific nations that recognize China over Taiwan will attend today’s summit, including those Wang has already visited on his regional whistle-stop — Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa and Fiji.
The proposal comes as Beijing jostles with Washington and its allies over influence in the strategically vital Pacific.
Analysts say the deal is unlikely to be unanimously approved by Pacific Island leaders today.
A recent security deal between the Solomon Islands and China caused deep unease in a region that is usually more concerned by climate change than superpower politics.
“The Solomons came off as an outlier, there wasn’t a rush of interest,” said Richard Herr, an academic at the University of Tasmania who has decades of experience working in the Pacific Islands.
The region will be hesitant about “being dragged into geostrategic competition,” he said.
There has already been some pushback to Beijing’s latest proposal, including from the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, David Panuelo, who warned other Pacific leaders it could cause “the fracturing of regional peace, security, and stability.”
The president of Palau, a Pacific nation that maintains diplomatic ties with Taiwan, told the ABC Monday that the region “should be concerned” about the proposed deals.
Western powers have bristled against the deals, with the US State Department warning the Pacific to be wary of “shadowy, vague deals with little transparency” with China.
Australia joined the United States in urging South Pacific nations to spurn China’s attempts to expand its security reach deep into the region, with the country’s new foreign minister warning of the “consequences” of such deals.
But many Pacific nations are also keen to maintain amicable ties with China, balancing relations between Beijing and Washington or playing each off against the other.
So it is far from clear what Pacific Island leaders will tell Wang Monday or in a series of closed-door meetings around the South Pacific.
“It’s hard to believe that the Chinese foreign minister will come to the region and be told to go home,” said Herr.
“It could be an embarrassment. Every Chinese diplomat in the region will be working on that.”
Wang said Sunday that Beijing was willing to work with other major powers in the Pacific region to help island nations develop.
“China is willing to carry out more tripartite cooperation with other countries, especially countries with traditional influence in the region,” he said when he met with Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna.
He described his Pacific tour as “a trip of peace, friendship and cooperation,” according to a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry.
Wang is expected to remain in Fiji’s capital until at least Tuesday, meeting with the country’s leaders and hosting the second China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers’ meeting.
The Chinese foreign minister will visit Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Tonga — just months after the island nation was devastated by a deadly earthquake and tsunami — to round out his tour.
China eyes security pact in Pacific Island summit
https://arab.news/y626s
China eyes security pact in Pacific Island summit
- The virtual summit is expected to discuss leaked proposals for China to radically increase its involvement in the security, economy and politics of the South Pacific
Iran hacking group claims attack on US medical company
- It issued an open warning to what it described as “Zionist leaders and their lobbies,” adding: “This is only the beginning of a new chapter in cyber warfare.”
WASHINGTON: An Iran-linked hacking group claimed responsibility on Wednesday for a sweeping cyberattack on US medical technology giant Stryker, saying it had wiped more than 200,000 systems and extracted 50 terabytes of data in retaliation for military strikes on Iran.
“Our major cyber operation has been executed with complete success,” Handala said in a statement, describing the attack as retaliation for what it called “the brutal attack on the Minab school” and for “ongoing cyber assaults against the infrastructure of the Axis of Resistance.”
The group said it had shut down Stryker offices in 79 countries and that all extracted data was “now in the hands of the free people of the world.”
It issued an open warning to what it described as “Zionist leaders and their lobbies,” adding: “This is only the beginning of a new chapter in cyber warfare.”
Founded in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Stryker is a global medical device giant with some 56,000 employees and $25.12 billion in 2025 revenues, making everything from orthopedic implants and surgical instruments to hospital beds and robotic surgery systems.
The Handala group later posted that it had also carried out an attack on Verifone, which specializes in electronic and point-of-sale payments.
The outages began shortly after 0400 GMT on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Windows devices — including laptops and mobile phones connected to Stryker’s networks — were remotely wiped.
