澳大利亚与东帝汶周四签署了一项防务协议，以加强网络和海上安全，此举旨在遏制中国在其岛屿邻国中的影响力。
Australia and East Timor signed a defence deal on Thursday to boost cyber and maritime security as Canberra seeks to curb China’s influence among its island neighbours.
澳大利亚国防部长理查德·马尔斯向记者表示，澳大利亚是东帝汶最大的防务和安全伙伴，该协议将大幅增加防务演习。
Australia is East Timor’s largest defence and security partner and the agreement will significantly increase defence exercises, Defence Minister Richard Marles told reporters.
“这是加倍深化友谊、加倍深化家庭纽带的时刻，”他在东帝汶首都帝力表示。
“This is a time to double down on friendship, to double down on family,” he said in East Timor’s capital Dili.
根据堪培拉发布的一份声明，根据马尔斯与东帝汶总理沙纳纳·古斯芒周四签署的防务框架，澳大利亚将提供6200万澳元（约合4400万美元），用于网络安全、海上安全、基础设施、灾害救援和培训。
Australia will provide A$62 million (US$44 million) for cybersecurity, maritime security, infrastructure, disaster relief and training, under a defence framework signed on Thursday by Marles and East Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, according to a statement from Canberra.
东帝汶位于澳大利亚西北约700公里（440英里）处，于2002年从印度尼西亚独立。
East Timor, around 700km (440 miles) northwest of Australia, gained independence from Indonesia in 2002.
澳大利亚对中国海军的快速扩张以及中国警察在多个太平洋岛国的存在表示担忧。
Australia has expressed concerns over the rapid expansion of China’s navy and the presence of Chinese police in several Pacific Island countries.
根据马尔斯的说法，作为周四协议的一部分，澳大利亚还将向东帝汶提供三艘额外的警用船只。古斯芒向记者表示，该协议将帮助东帝汶打击有组织犯罪和非法捕捞。
As part of Thursday’s agreement, Australia will also give East Timor three additional police vessels, according to Marles. Gusmao told reporters the agreement would help East Timor fight organised crime and illegal fishing.
澳大利亚国立大学国家安全学院专家副研究员尤安·格雷厄姆表示，堪培拉在东南亚“难以复制其近期在太平洋地区取得的突破性进展”。
Euan Graham, an expert associate with the Australian National Security College, said Canberra was facing difficulty “matching its recent cut-through in the Pacific” in Southeast Asia.
格雷厄姆指出，东帝汶靠近澳大利亚北部城市达尔文，后者驻扎着轮换部署的美国海军陆战队，是“澳大利亚北部进路安全的关键地点”。
East Timor is situated close to the northern Australian city of Darwin, which hosts a rotating force of US Marines, and is “a key location for the security of Australia’s northern approaches”, according to Graham.
他说：“对堪培拉而言，确保帝力至少不向中国提供战略通道至关重要。”
“It is vital for Canberra to ensure that Dili, at very least, does not provide strategic access to China,” he said.
中国国防部8月表示，中国国防部长董军在帝力会见了东帝汶领导人，并提出要“把两军关系推向新水平”。
China’s defence ministry said in August its Defence Minister, Dong Jun, had met East Timor’s leaders in Dili and offered to “take military-to-military relations to a new level”.
东帝汶外交部长本迪托·多斯桑托斯·弗雷塔斯本月访问莫斯科举行会谈。
East Timor’s Foreign Minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas visited Moscow for talks this month.
澳大利亚最近与包括瓦努阿图、斐济和巴布亚新几内亚在内的太平洋岛国达成了一系列防务和经济协议，旨在限制中国的安全角色。
Australia has recently struck a series of defence and economic agreements with Pacific Islands including Vanuatu, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, designed to limit China’s security role.
价值5亿澳元的瓦努阿图协议规定，不得在那里建设任何外国军事基地或基础设施，且澳大利亚是该群岛的主要警务合作伙伴。
The A$500 million Vanuatu agreement states no foreign military base or infrastructure can be built there and Australia is the archipelago’s main policing partner.
但瓦努阿图警察部长周三否认该协议将要求中国警察“逐步退出”，瓦努阿图警方在社交媒体上发布了中国警察培训警员使用监控无人机的图片。
But Vanuatu’s police minister rejected on Wednesday that the deal would require Chinese police to be “phased out”, and Vanuatu’s police force published images on social media of Chinese police training officers to use surveillance drones.