Fiji faces its biggest threat from “devastating climate change” rather than geopolitical tensions, the country’s defence minister warned Sunday at a high-level security summit.
Fiji is one of the Pacific island nations regularly hit by cyclones.
This weekend’s Shangri-La Dialogue, which brings together defence ministers from Asia and around the world, has been dominated by the United States and China sparring over Taiwan.
It also came as Beijing jostled with Western powers for influence over Pacific island nations, of which Fiji is one.
But Fijian Defence Minister, Inia Seruiratu, sought instead to focus attention on the threat posed by climate change to his Pacific country.
“Machine guns, fighter jets, ships are not our primary security concern,” he told hundreds of delegates at the event in Singapore.
“The single greatest threat to our very existence is human-induced, devastating climate change. It threatens our very hopes and dreams of prosperity. Waves are crashing at our doorsteps, winds are battering our homes, we are being assaulted by this enemy from many angles.”
He said security was “broader than many of us have traditionally defined it,” urging other countries to support Fiji’s efforts to combat climate change.
Last September, Fiji passed a sweeping climate change act which declared a climate emergency while setting out the legal framework for the nation’s response.
Other low-lying Pacific island nations also face threats from climate change. These range from cyclones that are becoming more regular and powerful, to rising seas.
Ahead of last year’s key climate talks in Glasgow, Pacific states warned they were bearing the brunt of global warming and urged wealthy, industrialised nations to do more.
Fiji was among 10 Pacific nations that last month rebuffed China’s push for a wide-ranging security pact amid worries the proposal was designed to pull them into Beijing’s orbit.
The failure of the plan, which would have directly challenged the influence of the US and its allies in the strategically vital region, amounted to a high-profile political setback for Beijing.