China is maintaining its policing push into the Pacific, sending a delegation from the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to Tonga ahead of a critical regional leaders meeting in the capital Nuku'alofa later this year.
Australian officials say the visit is another sign that China remains intent on embedding officers and training teams in police forces across the Pacific, despite public criticism from the US and Australia.
Tonga's Police Commissioner, Shane McLennan, told the ABC that the delegation of six officers came from Shandong Province and were "following up" the meeting China hosted with Pacific police ministers and chiefs in December last year.
The Commissioner said while the MPS delegation had a "broader" agenda on police cooperation, the main discussions were on how Chinese police could help Tonga host the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders' meeting in August.
"At the moment it is totally focused on what assistance they can provide to assist us as Tonga police to deliver the PIF leaders meeting," Mr McLennan told the ABC.
He said China was also willing to donate police vehicles and motorbikes to Tonga -- much like it has in Solomon Islands — to help ensure the event ran smoothly.
"We are looking at assistance with resources ... primarily centred around vehicles and motorcycles for Tonga police, and potentially some training in motorcade operations, all focused on security operations for PIF," he said.
The ABC has also been told that China has offered to help Tonga refurbish and develop venues for the PIF leaders' meetings, as well as offering to assist with transport for visiting dignitaries, and potentially providing audiovisual equipment.
Tonga's Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni told journalists in Nuku'alofa that China's support for the event would be welcome.
"We've discussed the numbers of police motorcycles and supporting vehicles (to be handed over)," he said.
The prime minister also played down the significance of China's offer to assist, suggesting that Australia and other nations had "no reason to be concerned".
"If it's training and if (Tonga) police deem it to be necessary, of course we will take up the offer," he said.
Australia sceptical of China's motives
Australia remains deeply suspicious of China's attempts to embed itself as a regional policing partner, warning Pacific nations privately that Beijing could use its presence to monitor both Chinese expatriates and local elites, as well as shaping the political and security environment in its favour.
Pacific Minister Pat Conroy declared last month that China should have "no role" policing Pacific island states, saying that security assistance was best provided by other members of the "Pacific family" including Australia and New Zealand.
Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Birmingham told the ABC's Afternoon Briefing that Tonga should not need to turn to countries outside the Pacific Islands Forum for help with security for the meeting.
"It is deeply concerning [that there's] any suggestion that security or other resources for the event would be supplied by any country outside the Pacific Islands Forum membership," he said.
"This demands some urgent explanation and action from the Albanese government."
Across the region Beijing has embedded a China Police Liaison Team (CPLT) in Solomon Islands, and uniformed Chinese officers are now working with their counterparts in Kiribati.
Last week Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka told the ABC that he had ordered Chinese officers embedded in his country's police force to leave, despite his decision not to tear up a broader policing agreement with Beijing.
Some police chiefs in the region have also responded cautiously to China's most recent push to deepen police and security ties in the Pacific.
In the wake of the Beijing meeting late last year, Commissioner McLennan told Tonga radio that New Zealand and Australia already offered "good, structured" assistance and training to his officers, and suggested that he would only allow China to embed police among his officers if they provided help that wasn't already available.
The ABC asked the commissioner if, after his meetings with the MPS this week, he still believed there were assistance "gaps" that China could fill.
The commissioner said his position had not changed.
"That remains my assessment, but there are discussions around what the MPS may still be able to assist with," he told the ABC.
He declined to comment when asked if the MPS representatives had directly pressed him or the government in Tonga to set up Chinese police liaison or training teams similar to the ones operating in Solomon Islands.
Some in Tonga's government have welcomed China's support for the flagship regional meeting, and are keen to draw in more help from Beijing — including on the policing front — to ensure the event runs smoothly.
Australia already runs several training and cooperation programs with police in Tonga, including a recent program in collaboration with Samoan police to help local officers develop close personal protection skills.
'Choose your friends and take sides'
The policing discussions in Samoa come in the wake of Nauru President David Adeang's high profile visit to China last week, which has also been closely monitored by Australian officials.
Mr Adeang was feted in Beijing, and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as several senior officials, signing a host of agreements across multiple fields.
The president heaped praise on President Xi and told Chinese state television that some of Nauru's "traditional partners" — a clear reference to Australia — had "challenged" his country to "choose your friends and take sides".
But he said China's approach to global politics was "refreshing" and that Nauru saw "a lot of potential" to build a substantial new relationship with Beijing.
While Nauru only broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan in January, Mr Adeang used the interview to echo the Chinese government's language on the politically sensitive topic, saying his country had severed its "so-called relations with the Taiwan region" and saying the island democracy would inevitably be "rejoined" with the mainland.
The president also held meetings with representatives from the Bank of China, which has flagged it might be willing to open an office in Nauru to replace the outgoing Bendigo Bank — a prospect that has caused discomfort in Canberra.
Mr Adeang also met with the President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Jin Liqun, saying his government was keen on gaining membership of the organisation in order to "realise Nauru's infrastructure and development targets".
Nauru's government added that the meeting would "lay the foundation for cooperation and collaboration and finding solutions to Nauru's current financial problems."
