SNA (Birmingham) — New aid offered by Australia to Pacific island nations is aimed at reducing Beijing’s influence over Pacific island nations, an issue which has emerged as a major concern for US allies in the region.

Canberra’s offer of a combined A$900 million (US$585 million) is set to “significantly bolster the nation’s competitiveness, security, and relationships at a time of global uncertainty.”

Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong further explained that “the Albanese government is working to make Australia a partner of choice for the countries of our region, to ensure our shared security, our shared economic strength, and to shape the world for the better.” She added, “Our assistance will help our regional partners become more economically resilient, develop critical infrastructure, and provide their own security so there is less need to call on others.”

No one is in any doubt that the “others” Wong has in mind refers solely to China, which has been making significant economic and diplomatic inroads in recent years.

Among the most notable provisions of the new Australian budget is the more than A$147 million (US$96 million) over four years for “Pacific security and engagement priorities” such as the maintenance of the Australian Federal Police deployment in the Solomon Islands, training for Pacific island nations’ defense forces, and the upgrade of Australia’s aerial surveillance activities.

The United States, Japan, and New Zealand have also been putting priority on encouraging Pacific island states to keep Beijing at arm’s length–triggered by the May decision of Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to sign an unprecedented security agreement with the Chinese government.

The United States has boosted high-level diplomatic visits and reopened its embassy in Honiara, which had been closed for nearly three decades, apparently out of its previous indifference to relations with the region until the China security pact suddenly gained its keen attention.

“I think we have acknowledged that, perhaps over the past years, yes, we have let this drift,” US State Department counsellor Derek Chollet conceded in a recent interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

To signal that this has changed, at the end of last month US President Joe Biden hosted a dozen Pacific island leaders in Washington DC. In his remarks to the heads-of-state, Biden declared that “the security of America, quite frankly, and the world depends on your security and the security of the Pacific islands. And I really mean that.”

The Biden administration used the occasion to unveil what it calls the “first-ever Pacific Partnership Strategy.” It also announced an aid package to the region in the range of US$810 million.

In support of the US efforts, Japan too has also been increasing its engagement the region since May.

Last weekend, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida travelled to Perth for a summit with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. They signed a “Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation,” which is also clearly aimed at countering China.

Among the provisions of the new bilateral agreement is that Tokyo and Canberra “will support a resilient and sovereign Pacific region, working with existing institutions, including the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)… We will collaborate to build regional resilience in areas such as climate change, health security, energy transition, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, and maritime security.”

The Solomon Islands–a nation of some 700,000 people–had been shifting its diplomatic line away from traditional dependence on Australia and New Zealand for several years prior to the China security pact, acting in a more independent fashion.

Some neighboring states have expressed concern that Honiara’s moves have invited superpower competition into their region.

Earlier this year, for example, Micronesia President David Panuelo publicly speculated that the Pacific islands were now being caught in a new “cold war.” He fretted that Beijing’s rising influence in the region “increases the chances of China getting into conflict with Australia, Japan, the United States, and New Zealand.”

For his part, Solomon Islands leader Sogavare complained in a speech before the United Nations General Assembly that his country had been subjected to “a barrage of unwarranted and misplaced criticisms, misinformation, and intimidation” as a consequence of making the formal security arrangement with China.

Beijing’s official diplomatic position has consistently been that the Pacific region should not become an arena for superpower competition.

Responding to Washington’s increased involvement in the region, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin stated that China “welcomes the United States’ expressed desire to give Pacific island countries more development support. We hope the United States can match its words with actions. What the Pacific island countries need is mutually beneficial cooperation based on equality; not self-serving expediency driven by geopolitical calculations. The Pacific island countries have the right to independently conduct exchanges with other countries. Their rights should be respected and not restricted or denied.”

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