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Why US-China competition is heating up in the Pacific

Competition between the United States and China is escalating in the Pacific, with both rushing to cement their influence.

They have reached out to Pacific nations, offering loans, security aid and development assistance. The stakes rose in April when the Solomon Islands signed a security accord with the Chinese government, Beijing’s first such deal in the region.

Since then, Australia and China have ramped up diplomacy. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi made a rare eight-day trip to the region in May while Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong visited the Pacific four times in two months.

WHAT COUNTRIES MAKE UP THE PACIFIC?
The Pacific is the world’s largest ocean and borders the US, Japan, Russia and Chile.

But the term Pacific nations usually refers to islands mostly found around or below the equator.

There are about 14 independent Pacific nations, all of which are relatively small. Only one, Papua New Guinea, has a population above one million while most are smaller than 25,900 sq km.

Larger ones include Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa and Kiribati. The combined gross domestic product of all Pacific independent nations is about the same as that of Vermont.

WHO ARE THEIR ALLIES?
Some Pacific countries describe their foreign policy as “friend to all, enemy to none”, but the region also has long-running ties to the US and its allies in the region, Australia and New Zealand.

Both have worked with Pacific leaders for decades and were among the seven founding members of the Pacific Islands Forum in 1971.

Over the past half century, Australia and New Zealand have provided development aid, political support and even domestic security. When violence sparked by political tensions broke out in the Solomon Islands in 2003, Australia led a regional police force to help restore order.

WHAT ABOUT ECONOMIC AID?
According to a Pacific aid map published by the Lowy Institute think tank, Australia spent more than US$10 billion in official development assistance in the Pacific region between 2009 and 2019, more than any other country.

New Zealand spent more than US$2 billion during the same time period.

However, the Lowy Institute’s figures show a new player emerging in the Pacific. Since 2009, China has become the largest lender in the Pacific, totalling more than US$7 billion.

WHY IS CHINA REACHING OUT TO THE PACIFIC?
To expand its influence in global institutions, such as the United Nations, China needs countries who will support its policy positions.

While the US often can call on the support of European, East Asian and North American countries, Beijing is building a network of developing nations to take its side in international disputes.

The Pacific also has many assets which are valuable to China’s burgeoning middle class.

According to the Chinese government, trade with the Pacific has grown to US$5.3 billion in 2021, mostly from seafood, wood and minerals.

IS THERE A TAIWAN ANGLE?
Yes. Out of 14 countries who still have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, four are in the Pacific – Palau, Nauru, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.

Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province and has worked to isolate it diplomatically in an attempt to force it to join mainland China.

In 2019, two Pacific nations switched their diplomatic recognition to China, including the Solomon Islands, in a major win for Beijing. CNA

 

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