A Fijian leader has said his nation is reconsidering security ties with China at a time that the geopolitical tensions in the Pacific are rising, media reports said.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said Fiji was reviewing a contentious police cooperation agreement it signed with China in 2011 that has allowed Chinese police officers to be stationed in the Pacific island nation, South China Morning Post.

At one point during a news conference in Wellington with his New Zealand counterpart Chris Hipkins, Rabuka appeared to go one step further by referring to Fiji’s “discontinuation” of the agreement.

“If our systems and our values differ, what cooperation can we get from them?” Rabuka was quoted as saying by the newspaper , referring to China.

“We need to look at that again before we decide whether we go back to it, or if we continue the way that we have in the past by cooperating with those who have similar democratic values and systems.”