Fiji rejects idea of Chinese military bases in Pacific islands

‘If they want to come, who would welcome them?’ Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said on Wednesday. ‘Not Fiji’

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Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka pictured at a meeting with Australia’s governor-general at Government House in Canberra, Australia, on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Published: 2:37pm, 2 Jul 2025

Fiji is opposed to China setting up a military base in the Pacific islands, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said on Wednesday, adding that Beijing did not need such a base to project power, as shown by last year’s 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 said.

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, Rabuka said.

Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of an Apec summit in San Francisco in 2023. Photo: Xinhua

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 Solomon Islands and a police presence in several nations.

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