The regional plan involves the establishment of four training centres across the Pacific with one hub in Brisbane.
Pacific Island states have backed an Australian-funded regional policing plan to improve training and create a multinational crisis response force.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said leaders had backed the A$400 million ($271 million) proposal at their summit in Tonga on Wednesday.
Under the plan, four training centres will be set up across the Pacific and a stand-alone centre in the Australian city of Brisbane. The initiative will also create a multinational police force of around 200 officers who will be deployed to countries in the region in the event of major events or crises.
“This shows how Pacific leaders are working together to shape the future we want to see,” Albanese said, hailing the agreement at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). He was joined by the leaders of Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Tonga in a symbolic show of unity in a region where rivalry between China and the United States has been on the rise.
Australia and New Zealand, both founding members of the PIF, have traditionally acted as the region’s go-to security partners, leading peacekeeping missions in the Solomon Islands and training in Nauru, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
But China, a major infrastructure lender in the region, has also been developing ties, signing a secret security pact with the Solomon Islands in 2022.
Beijing's attempt to strike a regional deal later that year ended in failure, but it has been providing martial arts training and Chinese-made vehicles to police in several Pacific nations.
Its closest regional allies had expressed concern that Australia's policing plan was designed to isolate Beijing.
While all forum members have backed the deal in principle, national leaders will have to decide to what extent, if at all, they will participate.
Mihai Sora of the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank, said Wednesday's endorsement was a diplomatic victory for Australia and the PIF, which appeared deeply divided on the issue.
Some Pacific leaders hope the deal can plug gaps in their own security, while Canberra hopes it will help “close the window for China to seek a regional security arrangement,” Sora told AFP news agency.
