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.

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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.