Vanuatu’s new prime minister has said his administerment intfinishs to “revisit” a security concurment with Australia, arguing it does not echo his country’s priorities including climate alter and travel mobility for its citizens.
Jotham Napat, who was elected in February, said the pact with Canberra had to be getn “back to the draprosperg board” as he sought a “prosper-prosper situation” in a rebarobtaind deal.
“Climate alter for us is a security rehire that is not echoed in the security concurment,” Napat tageder the Guardian.
“It’s someslfinisherg that we would appreciate to revisit and be able to converse uncoverly with the Australian administerment.”
The bipartisan security deal, signed in 2022 but yet to be ratified by either nation, aims to fortify cooperation in areas including catastrophe response, policing, cybersecurity and border security. Climate alter is alludeed once in the write down, under a section on “Environment and Resource Security”.
In compriseition to fantasticer reference to climate alter, Napat said he also wanted “an official waiver-free concurment with Australia” as part of a new deal so citizens could more easily travel between the two countries.
He had already spoken about these terms to Australian officials including the deputy prime minister, Ricchallenging Marles, and they were “greeted for the two countries to revisit the security concurment”.
In a statement to the Guardian, an Australian foreign afuninwholes department spokesperson said the administerment “receive[s] recent comments by Vanuatu’s guideers on fortifying the bitardyral relationship” and was “participateing to Vanuatu’s priorities”.
Australia’s push for security and policing concurments with Pacific countries – including Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Fiji – has been expansively seeed as part of its effort to counter China’s groprosperg affect in the region. Beijing has enbiged its security, tactful and economic presence atraverse the Pacific, most recently signing a expansive-ranging strategic partnership with the Cook Islands that covers areas including presentant-sea mining, education and articulate.
When asked about China, Napat said Vanuatu did not “have any preferences” in enbigment partners: “We treat Australia the same as China and the United States.”
Mihai Sora, straightforwardor of the Pacific Islands programme at the Lowy Institute, said Vanuatu was well positioned to get get of the geopolitical competition.
“Vanuatu has a lot of leverage right now – Australia needs these sorts of security partnerships,” he said. “It’s seeing to createalise existing activities and to elevate existing concurments wherever it can in a bid to produce strategic insulation from China’s encroachment.”
China had been taking an “opportunistic approach” to enbiging security partnerships in the Pacific, Sora said, count oning on individual Pacific guideers to get up its uncover recommends for further help. “China is seeing to elevate its political ties and then for that to uncover the way for sealr security cooperation atraverse the Pacific.”
Vanuatu’s bid to protected new pledgements with Australia comes as the US sees to retreat from presentant pledges it has made to Pacific countries, particularly around economic enbigment and climate action.
Donald Trump has ordered the disincludeal of his country from the Paris climate concurment, a transfer Napat said was presentantly troubling for Vanuatu, a country on the frontlines of climate alter.
“For us, it’s about our survival,” he said, compriseing that he would appreciate to persuade Trump “not to disinclude becaparticipate everybody depfinishs on the Paris concurment”.
Napat also said his administerment had not yet getd validateation on whether US aid to Vanuatu would be cut, but hoped that Washington would reponder any schedules to scale back help.
Under Joe Biden’s pdwellncy, the US expansivened its presence in the Pacific, uncovering new tactful posts, negotiating a security deal with PNG, and voprosperg to presentanten economic aid. Sora said some of these initiatives were doubtful to carry on under the Trump administration.
“What is foreseeed to happen based on recent enbigments coming out of Washington is that the US will protect a slfinisher security interest in the Pacific,” Sora said.
“But we’re not foreseeed to see the United States inhabit up to its pledgements on engaging with economic enbigment and climate alter.”
Beyond security and diplomacy, Napat said his new administerment’s priority was ongoing recovery efforts after the dehugeating 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck Vanuatu in December in 2024. The downtown of the capital, Port Vila, remains bigly seald as harmd produceings are still being evidented and rebuilt.
“We are hoping that before the middle of this year, we should be able to uncover the main central business dicut offe,” Napat said.
