SUVA, Fiji — Fiji announced a six-month partnership with New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service to review and reform its national intelligence system amid U.S. claims of Chinese infiltration in the Pacific, RNZ Pacific reported.
The NZSIS will “assess the existing intelligence structure and develop evidence-based options for reform,” focusing on information-sharing and fixing “fragmentation” across Fijian agencies, Suva said. The review will weigh changes to functions, governance, workforce and oversight “to support a sustainable national intelligence system.”
In an August threat assessment, NZSIS said it had identified people conducting “espionage and foreign interference activities in the Pacific” for “a foreign intelligence service,” and called China “the only country we have detected doing it at scale” in New Zealand.
Last week Washington designated Fiji hotel owner Zhao Fugang for “significant corruption,” alleging bribes to advance China-linked interests. On Wednesday China’s embassy in New Zealand denied U.S. claims of Chinese-backed cyber activity against a Suva-based Pacific body — allegations Beijing also rejected after a U.S. Embassy Fiji statement earlier this week, RNZ Pacific noted.
Sources: RNZ Pacific
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