Source : Perth Now news
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett will use a major UN address to spruik plans for an INTERPOL-style Pacific policing pact to “help safeguard our country” and curb China’s subversive policing activities in the region.
China has aggressively expanded its policing footprint in the South Pacific by signing bilateral security deals, deploying liaison teams and giving tactical training and vehicles to countries, including the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Vanuatu.
This has spurred concern in Canberra, with officials worried it erodes Australia’s role as the Pacific’s main security partner, gives China opportunities to plant spies and furthers Beijing’s bid to get a military toehold in the region.
Lauding the AFP’s training of police peacekeepers, Ms Barrett will tell the UN Chief of Police Summit (UNCOPS) on Wednesday: “National security is regional security and global security.”
“By sitting at the table with about 140 UN member states, we can meaningfully shape the frameworks that will empower police collaboration, not just for now, but for the generations to come,” she will say, according to advanced extracts of her speech.
“One of my priorities is to champion the views and role of Pacific Island police chiefs, who want a greater say at global forums about security and safety matters that concern their region.
“A decision will also be made by Pacific chiefs of police in October about whether they will agree to a new bloc, PACPOL.
“This will allow them to collectively establish priorities, with one voice at global and regional forums.”
Ms Barrett pledged to “supercharge our global operations and emphasise that the AFP is a national security agency” shortly after taking up the commissionership late last year.
During that address, she warned that “some nations, criminal and individuals are more willing to test the resolve of democracies and our social cohesion”, pointing to the Iran-linked spate of attacks targeting Jewish Australians.
She also said that because of the international dynamic, she had tweaked the AFP’s mission statement to “defend and protect Australia and Australia’s future from domestic and global security threats”.
