“Pacific is not a highway for nuclear submarines”

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A regional non-government organization has criticized the new security pact between Australia, United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) and has declared that the Pacific is not a highway for nuclear submarines.

The Pacific Network on Globalisation (P.A.N.G.) Coordinator, Maureen Penjueli, said in a statement the security pact is problematic as it only “heightens the risks for nuclear proliferation in the region.

AUKUS has been on the local news because of statements by Congresswoman Aumua Amata and Governor Lemanu referring to American Samoa’s role in the security pact.

Ms Penjueli expressed disappointment and concern saying Australia needs to be put on notice by the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders for abandoning its commitments under the South Pacific’s nuclear free accord, the Treaty of Rarotonga.

“Security and defence pacts today are about the Pacific Ocean – which is our home – but it has never been with Pacific people, let alone our governments,” she said.

She said Australia is a key part of PIF and also a party to the Rarotonga Treaty, the region’s principal nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament agreement.

This legally binds member states ‘not to manufacture, possess, acquire or have control of nuclear weapons (Article 3)’, as well as ‘to prevent nuclear testing in their territories (Article 6)’.

“We see AUKUS as just one in a long list of nuclear threats and issues that the region as a whole has been confronted with,” she said.

PANG says they see Australia taking decisions around peace and security which is not aligned with Pacific peoples’ immediate priorities around security, in particular human security.

“AUKUS raises serious concerns over Australia’s intentions for its island neighbours.”

Pacific Island governments and civil society have been at the forefront in advocating for a nuclear free and independent Pacific.

They have expressed strong opposition to AUKUS since it was announced in September, which experts say undermines regional solidarity on the issue of a nuclear free Pacific.