Australia strikes $86m security, economic treaty with Nauru

SYDNEY - Australia struck an economic and security treaty with Nauru on Dec 9, pledging A$100 million (S$86 million) in direct budget support over five years and A$40 million to boost security in the remote Pacific Islands nation that is also being courted by China.

It is the second security deal Australia has made in the Pacific Islands that effectively blocks China from forming policing ties after a similar deal agreed with Tuvalu, and gives Australia a veto over Chinese involvement in Nauru's security, banking or telecommunications sector.

Concern in Canberra about Beijing's ambitions in the Pacific Islands grew after Solomon Islands struck a security deal with China in 2022, and China test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile with a dummy warhead into the Pacific Ocean in September.

A Chinese space tracking vessel was sailing north-west of Nauru at the time of the launch.