SUVA, 07 April 2026 — A new report into policing partnerships in the Pacific says China has moved beyond providing basic training and technical assistance to taking a more operational role alongside local police forces in several island states, a shift that is reshaping the region’s security landscape without yet displacing long-standing partners such as Australia and New Zealand.
The report, released this week, documents two decades of steadily growing Chinese engagement in Pacific law enforcement and describes a clear evolution in the nature of that engagement. “What began as support and training has developed into more operationally embedded relationships in several countries,” the study says, underlining that Chinese police personnel are now working more closely with local counterparts “on the ground, shaping how policing is carried out in parts of the region.”
Engagement across the Pacific is uneven. The Solomon Islands is identified as China’s most prominent policing partner, reflecting a visibly deepening security relationship with Beijing. Smaller states such as the Cook Islands have also received sustained engagement, the report notes, but with differing intensity and forms of cooperation depending on each government’s strategic priorities and appetite for Chinese assistance.
The report warns the shift carries geostrategic consequences: in some instances Chinese police liaison teams have not only strengthened bilateral ties but have begun to compete with other external security partners. “Chinese police liaison teams have in some instances sought to discourage partners from other countries, signalling a willingness to compete at the operational level,” the authors write, suggesting Beijing is prepared to press for influence in practical policing work, not just training seminars.
Despite concerns about growing influence, the report argues China’s approach is incremental and cumulative rather than confrontational. “China’s role is best understood not as a security takeover but as a cumulative strategy that is reshaping the region’s policing landscape,” it says. Australia and New Zealand remain central security partners, and Pacific governments are increasingly diversifying their relationships rather than choosing sides, the report adds.
The findings arrive against a background of active regional moves to strengthen policing capacity. Canberra in 2024 announced a A$400 million Pacific Policing Initiative to boost training and establish mobile regional policing capabilities — a program framed by officials as a direct response to a broader competition for influence in the region. Fiji and other Pacific states have also taken global policing platforms seriously: Fijian police leaders attended the UN’s UNCOPS summit in 2024 to deepen international cooperation on policing and peace operations.
Analysts say the new report matters because operational policing roles — deployment of liaison officers, embedding teams and direct operational collaboration — bring daily, visible influence and access to sensitive law-and-order functions. How Pacific governments balance training and capacity support from multiple external partners, while protecting sovereignty and local accountability, will be a key policy question as China’s policing footprint continues to expand.
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