SYDNEY
\nAustralia and Vanuatu signed a sweeping economic and security agreement on Monday that bars the establishment of any foreign military base in the Pacific nation. Vanuatu is at the centre of strategic rivalry between China and US allies in the South Pacific, and Australia has expressed concern that Beijing is seeking a permanent security presence in the region.
\nThe agreement commits Australia to $345 million in support for Vanuatu, whose largest external creditor is China, and it stops a foreign military power establishing a base there.
\n\u201cWhat this does is to provide certainty for Australia that there will be no foreign military base,\u201d Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters after signing the deal in Canberra with his Vanuatu counterpart Jotham Napat.
\n\u201cWe have concluded a balanced agreement that will protect our collective and individual security and our sovereignty,\u201d he said. China\u2019s navy has made repeated port calls to Vanuatu. Beijing also funded the expansion of a wharf in Luganville, once the largest US military base in the South Pacific, fuelling concern in Canberra and Washington that China wanted a navy base.
\nChina and Vanuatu previously said the wharf was for cruise ships. The \u201cNakamal Agreement\u201d commits Vanuatu to rejecting the militarisation of infrastructure, Napat said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SYDNEY Australia and Vanuatu signed a sweeping economic and security agreement on Monday that bars the establishment of any foreign military base in the Pacific nation. Vanuatu is at the centre of strategic rivalry between China and US allies in the South Pacific, and Australia has expressed concern that Beijing is seeking a permanent security […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-553596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n