Pacific leaders meeting a chance to focus on unity

While expectations of greater co-operation on climate change loom large over this week’s Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, the actions of Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare are a reminder of how the stakes have risen in our region. How the Pacific family elects to deal with Mr Sogavare and the onslaught of influence being mounted by Beijing will be a crucial test. Preserving regional stability and security must be the lens through which all other issues are viewed.

In recent months there has been an increasing disconnect between Mr Sogavare’s words and actions. On the one hand he says established allies such as Australia, New Zealand and the US remain the Solomons’ preferred security partners in the Pacific region. On the other he has entered a new security pact with China and praised the comfort he feels from the introduction of new methods of crowd and riot control. In the latest development, the Solomons government has blocked five Australian aid workers from entering the country but opened its doors to Chinese advisers, praising Beijing as a “worthy partner” supporting its development.

To date, the federal government has maintained its diplomatic stance, accepting assurances that the Sogavare government has not given any permission for China to establish a permanent military presence. Publicly, the Albanese government says delays in granting visas to government workers is business as usual and perfectly understandable. But the list of concerns about what is happening in the Solomons continues to grow. Chief among them are moves to possibly delay general elections due to be held next year, ostensibly to not conflict with the holding of the Pacific Games. In addition, Mr Sogavare says he is considering the possibility of establishing a government-owned media that critics say could turn out to be a propaganda mouthpiece for the Prime Minister and the Chinese Communist Party. The picture building in the Solomons is of a Prime Minister who has outsourced security to Beijing, which has a vested interest in ensuring that Mr Sogavare remains in power. There is ample evidence of the fragility of democracy in our region, not least in Papua New Guinea, where general elections have been compromised by poor management. And there is plenty to suggest China is determined to make mischief. Fresh signs of this can be found in the withdrawal of Kiribati from the Pacific Islands Forum and an invitation from Beijing for Pacific Islands leaders to attend another online gathering at the same time the forum is being held.

Anthony Albanese will be able to discuss the situation in the Solomons in person when he attends the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva from Wednesday. It would be wrong to assume that the present difficulties are a result of any action or inaction by Australia, which has been a good friend and honest player across the region over many years. Our promise that investment and aid in the region come without strings attached is demonstrably genuine. It is heartening that Pacific leaders were able to push back against attempts by Beijing to broker a regional agreement similar to what it has done in the Solomons. But it would be naive to think China has abandoned its designs on the Pacific. At stake for Beijing is the potential for new resources and fishing grounds. But most of all the issue is about China under Xi Jinping being able to assert itself as a major power in the region and complicate the ability of the US and Australia to operate unchecked in the Pacific. Mr Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong must continue to leave Pacific Islands leaders in no doubt about what is at stake. We must demonstrate that we can be trusted to work together but, like all sovereign nations, we will always be guided by what is in our best long-term interests.