Australia has to end its long Pacific stupor before it’s too late
Australia’s neglect has allowed China to expand its grand strategy of global base-building into the Pacific. It is not too late for us to shore up our place in the region, writes the former head of RAMSI
For two generations, since the end of World War II, Australia has squandered the chance to build deep and enduring relations with our neighbours in the South Pacific. And now it’s almost too late.
The people-to-people links that were once so strong with countries such as PNG and Fiji have fallen away. Successive governments in Canberra have been preoccupied with what were seen as more pressing and more important issues elsewhere in the world, rather than focusing enough attention on our closest friends and neighbours.
