Tonga has welcomed an offer from Beijing to assist with security at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders’ meeting in August, alarming Australian authorities who view the move as further evidence of a plan to embed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officers and training teams in police forces across the South Pacific.
Tonga’s Police Commissioner Shane McLennan has confirmed that six officers from Beijing’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), came from Shandong Province and were “following up” on a meeting between CCP personnel and South Pacific police ministers and chiefs in December 2023.
