SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Sunday that a security and migration pact signed with Tuvalu showed Australia was a "genuine, reliable" regional partner, as it seeks to counter China's influence in the Pacific.
Australia announced on Friday the security guarantee to the tiny Pacific Islands nation to respond to military aggression, protect it from climate change and boost migration.
Australia, a United States ally, has been working to shore up its Pacific standing amid a rising China, which recently upgraded a security pact with Solomon Islands.
Under the treaty, announced in the Cook Islands by Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Tuvalu counterpart Kausea Natano, Australia will also vet Tuvalu's security arrangements with other nations.
Albanese has called the pact Australia's most significant agreement with a Pacific Island nation, giving "a guarantee that upon a request from Tuvalu for any military assistance based upon security issues, Australia will be there."
Persons:
Penny Wong, Wong, Anthony Albanese, Kausea Natano, Albanese, Sam McKeith, David Gregorio
Organizations:
SYDNEY, Australia's, Tuvalu, Pacific ., Australian Broadcasting Corp
Locations:
Australia, Pacific, Pacific . Australia, United States, China, Solomon, Tuvalu, Cook, Taiwan, Beijing, Hawaii, Sydney