[ad_1]
SYDNEY (The Straits Times) – Geopolitical shocks could disrupt the political and security landscape and undermine unity in the Pacific Islands region amid strategic competition between China and US allies, a think tank report warned ahead of the annual summit of Pacific Island leaders.
The Lowy Institute report noted that Pacific island nations are valued in the defense planning of major world powers due to their strategic location, including the ability to monitor and control naval movements in the Pacific.
The report noted that China is in fierce competition with the United States and its allies such as Australia and Japan for influence in the region.
The report said that “China’s activities in the region seem tireless” and that the United States’ allies have followed suit, including its largest aid donor, Australia.
“Faced with this new ‘Great Game’, Pacific Island countries have become diplomatic price setters, taking advantage of increasing competition to maximise their development interests,” said report authors Mihaly Sola, Meg Keen and Jessica Collins.
The report warns that this “unrestrained strategic competition” challenges good governance and transparency, and that small Pacific island states are at risk of being crushed.
The report said competing interests among donors were causing Pacific island nations to pull in different directions, overwhelm small bureaucracies and risk distracting from local priorities.
China has become a major player in the region’s development finance, ports, airports and telecommunications, and is seeking a larger role in the military, policing, digital connectivity and the media.
The vulnerability of Pacific island nations to climate change is also being exploited, with external partners providing help for access to the Pacific, the report said, without naming specific countries.
“Mobilizing naval and air forces to respond to disasters requires securing access to ports, airstrips, and sea lanes,” the report said, prompting major powers to compete to be the first to respond.
The Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting opens in Tonga on Monday, after China hosted three Pacific island leaders on extended visits to the North Asian nation.
Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Tuesday, as his government signed an agreement with the U.S. Peace Corps to recruit software engineers and announced that Google would spend $200 million to build a data center to support a new undersea cable.
The leaders of Vanuatu and Solomon Islands visited China in July.
The report found that Pacific island countries are “more vocal in their international engagements, demanding better deals on trade, labour mobility, digital connectivity and climate resilience…PACNEWS
Related
[ad_2]
Source link
