Fiji is seeking to be at the forefront of a cohesive and collaborative Pacific-led security solution, and partners will be most valued when they support that vision.
The trajectory of its security force shifted dramatically after Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka took office in late 2022, when he considered scrapping the existing policing agreement with Beijing. Since then, embedded Chinese police have been ordered out of the country and the agreement remains under review, with concerns over China’s growing presence in the region and its potential to undermine democratic systems. In a speech at Australia’s National Press Club in early July, Rabuka made clear that Fiji would not welcome a Chinese base in the Pacific and suggested a treaty with Australia was on the horizon.
As one of the most populous and developed countries in the Pacific, Fiji will continue to be viewed as a critical security and political leader. Rabuka has played a key role in keeping the Pacific Islands Forum harmonious, and has also strongly advocated for regional security groups such as the Pacific Policing Initiative and Pacific Response Group. Rabuka has also led by proposing the ‘Ocean of Peace’ concept as a means for Pacific island nations to take responsibility for regional stability by managing peaceful cooperation and coordination.
The Republic of Fiji Military Force (RFMF) has approximately 4,000 regular members and 6,000 reserve members. Although still grappling with its troubled past, it has contributed to several regional stability operations and UN peacekeeping missions. Its naval arm has two Guardian-class patrol boats, provided by Australia, and survey vessels provided by South Korea and China.
While mainly tasked with maintaining civil order, the Fiji Police Force (FPF) increasingly has had to tackle rising transnational crime. In this, it has needed support from and coordination with external partners.
Fiji’s security challenges and objectives are outlined and guided by the National Security Strategy 2025–2029 and by the National Security and Defence Review and Foreign Policy White Paper, both published in 2024.
The diagram below gives an overview of Fiji’s key security partners and the types of support they provide to its security forces. The icons don’t reflect the full scale of assistance. For example, support could involve a single event with a specific outcome or a comprehensive, ongoing support package.
Australia provides extensive security support to all Pacific island countries through various mechanisms, including the Defence Cooperation Program and Pacific Maritime Security Program. In Fiji, Australia’s cooperation and support are set out in the Fiji-Australia Vuvale partnership. Significant additional support includes: redevelopment of Blackrock peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief camp in 2022; major upgrades to the navy’s RFNS Stanley Brown Wharf in the same year; and construction of the Maritime Essential Services Centre in 2025. Australia has dozens of people embedded in Fiji’s defence and police forces and has a deep training and joint exercise partnership with those forces. Australia and Fiji signed a Status of Forces Agreement in 2022.
China and Fiji signed a policing cooperation agreement in 2011, leading to cooperation in intelligence sharing and training as well as delivery of equipment. The current Fijian government has shelved some aspects of the agreement, but Fijian police still get training in China, albeit on a modest scale. China has also delivered 47 specialised military vehicles to the RFMF in 2020.
New Zealand provides a range of training to both the RFMF and FPF, with their support in the security sector underpinned by the Duavata partnership, which is set to be renewed this year. New Zealand also signed a status of forces agreement with Fiji in 2023, enabling greater military cooperation. Police cooperation between the two countries has a growing focus on combatting transnational crime.
The United States has facilitated training and capacity building programs for Fijian police and law-enforcement agencies, centred around the drug and transnational crime crisis. Fiji also has a Shiprider Agreement with the US Coast Guard as well as a Cross-Servicing Agreement between US Department of Defense and Fiji’s Ministry of Home Affairs, now Ministry of Defence and Veterans’ Affairs. The US’s Nevada National Guard has a State Partnership Program with Fiji for training and humanitarian purposes, reflecting tailored support through similarly sized forces. The US has also promised funding for small-arms recapitalisation and will deliver rigid-hull inflatable boats.
Japan has supported Fiji’s maritime security under the Official Security Assistance framework, committing to provide Fiji with boats for warning and surveillance operations, including inflatable hull rescue boats, which were handed over in May this year.
Outside of the region’s five largest security partners, Israel pledged in February to provide Fiji with patrol boats to fight the illicit drug trade, having previously provided Fiji with four patrol boats in 1987. Britain provides training and education opportunities for Fijian security force personnel, has a resident defence advisor and a hydrographer embedded in the Fijian navy. South Korea gifted a hydrographic survey ship to Fiji’s navy in 2019.
Fiji’s diverse security partnerships show that the current government values support from a range of partners but would prefer support from countries that share democratic values. Fiji is likely to continue seeking major security assistance from Australia. Rabuka has encouraged Chinese engagement on other issues, such as poverty alleviation, strengthening the agricultural sector and building infrastructure. Fiji’s diplomatic relationship with the US is likely to become more complicated following USAID cuts, tariffs threats and general unpredictability.
Future leadership change in Fiji could stop or reverse efforts to untangle Fiji’s security partnership with China. The country’s primary focus on being a regional security hub and leader is highly unlikely to change. Rabuka has also said it might be time to elevate the partnership with Australia to a treaty-level agreement, which wouldn’t be ‘subject to the political whims of the winning parties in various elections’.
Australia, and other partners, should continue to work with Fiji to develop its security forces and support the creation of long-lasting, effective regional security assets, such as Blackrock and a Pacific Policing Initiative regional centre of excellence for forensics. These centres will empower Fiji to make a greater contribution to Pacific security capabilities and cooperation, supporting its aim to reduce regional reliance on partners outside the Pacific family.
Australia should also pursue a treaty-level agreement with Fiji that delivers benefits for both parties. While this agreement would ideally contain security guarantees like those in other treaties between Australia and Pacific island nations, it may not come to fruition. At the very least, the treaty should focus on deepening interoperability and cooperation between security forces.
ASPI’s Friends to all: Competing for Pacific security partnerships series can be found here.