US moves to counter China in Pacific
The Australian, 30 November 2011
By Richard Herr and Anthony Bergin
BARACK Obama spent considerable effort at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum summit and during his recent visit to Australia to put the “Pacific” into the Asian Century.
The concept of Asia-Pacific better incorporates American ambitions: it refocuses the locus of its strategic policy from the Middle East to East Asia.
China has previously expressed its reservations on the strengthening of American defence capacity on Guam and nearby Micronesian islands.
Now China questions the motives for a more visible US military presence along the southern flank of the Asia-Pacific.
But what has been missing from debate on whether these developments are intended to contain or at least balance the growth of Chinese power is the role of the central Pacific.
Washington has long regarded the Pacific Islands region as belonging to our sphere of influence. It made an exception, however, in deferring to Canberra late in the Cold War; the US feared Australia was unable to deal with the Soviet Union’s growing interests in the region.
Free trial
But with rising Chinese influence in the South Pacific, Washington again feels Canberra has taken its eyes off the ball.
The Pacific Islands now have a higher profile in Washington than at any time in the past two decades. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton identified Papua New Guinea’s resources as a source of rivalry between Beijing and Washington.
The new American ambassador to Fiji asserted in her confirmation hearings that the Pacific Islands were “our partners in fostering both regional and global stability”.
Senior US delegations have recently toured the Pacific Islands to identify areas of common interest and establish America’s national interests in the region.
Washington has just secured an entree into the Pacific Islands Forum for its dependent territories and revived educational programs on Pacific affairs in the region to strengthen links with island leaders. This year President Obama dispatched a delegation of 50 officials to Auckland to attend the post-forum dialogue consultations.
It was the largest and highest powered delegation sent to meet the forum leaders.
The US again appears to doubt that Australia can deliver on Pacific issues, particularly with regard to growing Chinese interests in the area.
China now has a large and extensive diplomatic presence in the region: it’s the third largest aid donor and has a rapidly expanding trade relationship with many of the island states. It is also increasing military ties with Fiji.
Beijing has weakened key Australia regional policies such the Cairns Compact on aid co-ordination by declining to participate in its operation.
There are up to 20,000 illegal Chinese immigrants in PNG. Chinese organised crime is an increasing issue for the larger Pacific states.
Unsustainable loan indebtedness to China looms for some of the smaller ones.
The Pacific Island members of the UN now meet under the rubric of the Pacific Small Islands Developing States and not the Pacific Islands Forum banner. That’s in large part because PSIDS excludes Australia, while the forum includes us. The PSIDS recently succeeded in changing the name of the Asia group at the UN to recognise the Pacific Islands’ importance to the
Asia-Pacific. That has drawn the attention of the island countries to our odd attachment to membership of the Western European and Others Group voting block at the UN.
The Melanesian Spearhead Group, a sub-regional body made up of the largest and resource-richest of the South Pacific states, has backed fellow member Fiji against Australian sanctions.
The MSG doesn’t include Australia. With Chinese backing, the group has grown in regional standing with an agenda increasingly focused on Asia. The leaders of the Polynesian nations, in reaction, have also just formed their own sub-regional grouping; also without Australian participation.
Australia should be in the vanguard of Pacific Islands regional policy. But we’re losing influence over collective decision-making in the South Pacific.
Australia needs to find the means to regather the threads of regional leadership. Establishing closer ties with Melanesia, restoring effective relations with Fiji and finding a regional role for China may reinstate the balance between Canberra and Washington in the Pacific.
Richard Herr and Anthony Bergin are the authors of Our Near Abroad: Australia and Pacific Islands Regionalism, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, released yesterday