On paper, Western countries are rushing to sign defence pacts in the South Pacific, ensuring their influence in a region long neglected as a geopolitical backwater. But on the water, the island nations are playing a very different game.
Instead of taking sides, local leaders are leveraging the geopolitical tug of war between China and the West, winning security guarantees from the latter while Beijing builds infrastructure and deepens its economic footprint.
In June, Vanuatu – an archipelago nation around 1,750 km (1,090 miles) east of Australia – signed a security pact with Canberra. A week later in early July, Fiji signed its first mutual defence treaty with Australia. The treaty is open for other Pacific nations to join.
Beijing issued similar responses to both developments, saying the countries’ cooperation should not target any third party or be used to “engage in geopolitical games”.
These manoeuvres represent Australia’s latest efforts in what Foreign Minister Penny Wong has described as a “permanent contest” for influence in the region against an increasingly assertive China.
They also shed light on Australia’s ambition of becoming the Pacific’s preferred security partner and shutting out China’s influence, said Connor Graham, a research fellow at the Sydney-based Lowy Institute.