As China looks to buy telecoms assets in the Pacific islands, can Australia jam the call?

State-owned China Mobile’s reported interest in Digicel, the biggest mobile carrier in the region, is seen as being of serious national security concern to Canberra

Analysts say the move will allow Beijing to spy on Australia’s neighbours, and Canberra is now apparently willing to finance a potential buyer to fend off China’s advances

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A Papua New Guinean man wearing a shirt with the Chinese and Papua New Guinea flags takes a photo on his mobile phone during the 2018 opening of Independence Boulevard in Port Moresby. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:00am, 31 Jan 2021Updated: 8:13pm, 31 Jan 2021

When reports first emerged last year that China Mobile – the country’s largest state-owned telecoms company – was keen to buy Digicel, the biggest mobile carrier in the Pacific islands, the move was seen as being of serious security concern to Australia.

Analysts say it not only fuelled Canberra’s worries that the Pacific nations were growing more dependent on China and moving away from their historical Western partners, but also raised the fear that if Digicel were owned by a firm so closely linked to Beijing, the Chinese government would have the ability to spy on Australia’s neighbours.

“There’s a real risk of telecoms company espionage here,” said Robert Potter, who has advised the Australian, Canadian and American governments on cybersecurity. “There’s the risk of people’s conversations becoming a component of state policy. China, effectively, would be able to access everyone’s conversations.”

Digicel, founded in 2001 by Irish businessman Denis O’Brien, is the No 1 carrier in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga and Samoa, which are among the 22 nations and territories dotted across an expanse of ocean that encompasses critical lines of transport and communication.

While many of these Pacific nations have long been aligned with the United States and its allies, including Australia, China has in recent years forged closer ties with the region by pushing its diplomatic and financial clout.

Beijing and Canberra are tussling for influence in the Pacific. Photo: AFP

Digicel confirmed last week that it had “received unsolicited approaches from a number of parties in respect of its Pacific operations”, but said it would not comment further as the discussions were private.