China and democratic countries, including Australia and Japan, have increased their efforts to deepen engagement with Pacific Island countries in recent weeks, intensifying what some regional politicians and analysts describe as great power competition, especially in the security sector.
“Geopolitical competition continues to intensify in the Pacific region as traditional partners [roll out] new activities while new partners continue to show new interests,” said Mihai Sora, director of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute in Australia.
Earlier this month, Jeremiah Manele and Charlot Salwai, the prime ministers of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, made high-profile trips to China, during which they vowed to “deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership” with China.
After wrapping up his first trip to China as Solomon Islands’ prime minister, Manele announced on July 16 that China is providing more than $20 million worth of “budgetary support” to the Pacific Island country. The Chinese government has yet to confirm the news publicly.
China also reiterated its commitment to help support and train the Solomon Islands’ police force, which began after Honiara signed two controversial security deals with Beijing over the last two years.
Meanwhile, leaders from 18 Pacific Island countries agreed to enhance Japan’s role in the region’s development following a three-day summit in Tokyo in mid-July. Tokyo and Pacific Island nations also announced a joint action plan for increasing port calls by Japan’s Self-Defense Force as well as deepening cooperation between coast guard agencies.
Sora said Japan’s desire to deepen cooperation with Pacific countries in the security sector is a departure from its traditional role as an aid donor.
“We are seeing increased anxiety from Japan with respect to China’s role and impact on international security, and they are particularly concerned with China’s push into the security space in the Pacific,” he told VOA in a video interview.
In a joint declaration issued at the end of the Pacific Islands leaders meeting, Japan and Pacific Island nations expressed "strong opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by the threat or use of force or coercion anywhere in the world.” They didn’t identify China in the document.
Sora said Japan’s efforts are aimed at upholding the rules-based order in the Pacific region and it hopes to increase engagement with regional countries in maritime security.
Australia, which has traditionally been a security provider to regional countries, is looking into helping the Solomon Islands double the size of its police force as Canberra grows increasingly wary of Honiara’s police deal with Beijing.
Australia is also providing support to Pacific Island countries’ development needs, including a plan announced this week to open a new undersea cable connectivity and resilience center. The establishment of the center aims to help regional countries grow their digital economies by expanding data network connectivity.
However, some politicians from Pacific Island countries view major democracies’ efforts to deepen ties with regional countries as potentially problematic.
“Instead of sending officials focusing on development to engage with Pacific Island nations, major democracies are sending more security folks to facilitate the dialogues,” said Peter Kenilorea Jr., a leading independent member of parliament from the Solomon Islands.
He says that while China’s attempt to increase security ties with Pacific Island countries remains his top concern, democratic countries’ efforts to counter China’s growing security presence in the Pacific region are overshadowing regional countries’ urgent development needs.
“While attention from major democracies is there, it is not the right attention for regional countries,” Kenilorea told VOA on the sidelines of the IPAC Summit in Taipei, adding that Pacific Island countries should try to direct the focus back to their development needs during dialogues with big democratic countries.
Some experts say politicians from other Pacific Island countries have expressed similar concerns about the increasing focus on security and competition with China in the Pacific region.
“There is a very healthy degree of skepticism” among Pacific leaders about what is driving major democracies’ engagement with them, said Tess Newton Cain, an adjunct associate professor at Griffith Asia Institute in Australia.
“They are very clear that the reason everybody wants to be their friend and everybody wants to talk to them is because they see this as a way of containing China,” she told VOA by phone.
Despite Pacific Island nations’ desire to steer engagement with major powers back to development, Sora said concern about China’s growing presence in the Pacific region remains the main driver of democratic countries’ efforts in the region.
“Concerns about China’s activities in the Pacific region allow lawmakers to mobilize more resources than if they were just looking at the region through the traditional development lens,” he said.
But he adds that the securitization of the Pacific region is an “inescapable” trend.
“What differentiates various actors’ approaches is their commitment to transparency and coordination of their activities with Pacific Islands’ priorities,” Sora said.
As great power competition in the Pacific region will likely intensify in the near future, Kenilorea Jr. said the key for Pacific Island countries to safeguard their interests is to “maneuver together.”
“I think regionalism is where we can counter some of these big power challenges that we are going through,” he told VOA.
