Pacific new security pact eyed:

Australia and New Zealand are set to seal a new security agreement with their Pacific island neighbors as China increases its influence in the region, officials said on Friday.

The agreement was expected to be signed at the 18-nation Pacific Islands Forum in September, New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

It said in a statement that the agreement

builds on previous regional security declarations made by Pacific Islands Forum members, and will likely focus on a broad range of security priorities, including human and environmental security and security challenges.

The ministry described the Pacific as an "increasingly contested strategic environment."

Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the new pact was a continuation of a security agreement accepted by forum nation leaders in 2000. The Biketawa Declaration created a framework for collective responses to regional crises, such as the Australia-led multinational security force that was sent to the Solomon Islands in 2003 to end civil unrest. The mission only ended last year.

"It's important for us that the good relations continue with our near neighbors. We want to make sure from a security perspective, economic perspective, aid and development perspective, we've got a continuing good relationship," Dutton told Nine Network television.