Fiji says climate change, not conflict, is Asia’s biggest security threat
Fiji’s defense minister said on Sunday that climate change, not conflict, posed the biggest security threat in the Asia-Pacific region.
SINGAPORE — Fiji’s defense minister said on Sunday that climate change posed the biggest security threat in the Asia-Pacific region, a shift in tone at a defense summit that has been dominated by the war in Ukraine and disputes between China and the United States.
The low-lying Pacific islands, which include Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, are some of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the extreme weather events caused by climate change.
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Fiji has been battered by a series of tropical cyclones in recent years, causing devastating flooding that has displaced thousands from their homes and hobbled the island’s economy.
“In our blue Pacific continent, machine guns, fighter jets, gray ships and green battalions are not our primary security concern,” Inia Seruiratu, Fiji’s minister for defense, said at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s top security meeting.
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