Fiji says China military base not welcome as Pacific islands steer between superpowers

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Fiji is opposed to China setting up a military base in the Pacific Islands, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said on Wednesday, adding that it did not need such a base to project power, as shown by an intercontinental ballistic missile test.

Strategically placed between the United States and Asia, the Pacific Islands are a focus of rivalry between Washington and Beijing for security ties.

The islands were trying to cope with a big, powerful China seeking to spread its influence, Rabuka told the National Press Club in the Australian capital, adding that Beijing understood he would lobby other Pacific leaders against such a base.

"Pacific leaders in all their recent discussions have tried to go for policies that are friendly to all and enemies to none - and it is a fairly tough course to steer, but it is possible," he added.

The Pacific would feel the impact of any conflict over the Taiwan Strait between major powers, a possibility already being planned for by China and other nations, he said.

Fiji opposes establishment of a military base by China, he said, in response to queries on Beijing's security ambitions in a region where it already has a security pact with the Solomon Islands and a police presence in several nations.

"If they want to come, who would welcome them?" he said. "Not Fiji."

China's embassy in Fiji did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Beijing has previously ruled out establishing a military base in the Solomon Islands.

China did not need a base to project power, Rabuka added, as Beijing tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in September that flew over Fiji to land in international waters.

China showed off its coast guard to 10 visiting leaders of Pacific islands in May, after registering two dozen of its vessels with a regional fisheries commission last year, though it has yet to start South Pacific patrols.

China's coast guard would need to "observe our sovereignty, our sovereign waters", Rabuka said.

Fiji's cooperation with China to develop infrastructure should not affect how it interacts with Australia, New Zealand and the United States, he added.

To manage strategic competition in the region, Rabuka is trying to build support for an Ocean of Peace treaty to ensure outsiders respect its unity and the "rejection of coercion as a means to achieve security, economic or political advantage".

Leaders of the 18 members of the Pacific Islands Forum will consider the pact at a meeting in September.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney, Editing by Clarence Fernandez)