US steps up commitment to South Pacific freedom

The Biden administration’s announcement that after a lapse of almost 30 years it was reopening an embassy in Solomon Islands sent a powerful signal about its commitment to the Indo-Pacific region. So did US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s post-Quad summit visit to Fiji for video talks with 18 Pacific Islands leaders. At any other time, re-establishing an embassy in the Solomons capital, Honiara, might have aroused little interest. But, as a US State Department briefing note to congress said, the move was part of a plan to increase US influence in the Solomons “before China becomes strongly embedded”. Since it controversially severed 36 years of close ties to Taiwan in 2019, the Solomons government under pro-Beijing Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has become a prime target for China’s drive to gain influence across the South Pacific. Mr Sogavare has been given red-carpet treatment in China and Chinese “aid” has poured into the impoverished Pacific Islands nation of 700,000 people.

In November last year, the Morrison government sent troops and police to Honiara after the capital was gripped by rioting by islanders bitterly opposed to the break with Taiwan. Beijing stepped in to blunt Australia’s presence, rushing in a team of People’s Liberation Army riot control specialists and equipment. China’s projects in Honiara include a new 10,000-seat stadium to host the Pacific Games next year.

Without an embassy in Honiara, the US has been relying on diplomatic coverage from its embassy in Port Moresby, 1400km away. As the US State Department notification to congress said, China has been using “a familiar pattern of extravagant promises, prospective costly infrastructure loans and potentially dangerous debt levels” when engaging with local political and business leaders. China brazenly has tried to buy influence at the heart of the Solomons through a $90m so-called constituency development program operated by the Honiara government and the Chinese embassy. Funds reportedly were distributed to 39 of the country’s 50 MPs ahead of a no-confidence vote brought against Mr Sogavare. It failed.

After leaving the Quad summit in Melbourne, Mr Blinken became the first US Secretary of State to visit Fiji since George Shultz in 1985. In Suva, Mr Blinken expressed strong support for the Pacific Islands Forum and the region. “We’re strengthening our relationships in every corner of the region,” he said before flying to Honolulu for talks with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts. “Every defining issue of the 21st century runs through this region.” Despite the emerging crisis in Ukraine, the length of Mr Blinken’s journey signalled that Washington was determined not to be distracted from the Indo-Pacific.

Australia has done much of the heavy lifting in the South Pacific. The time is right, however, for the US to join efforts to counter China’s subversion. Beijing’s relentless drive for influence is evident in the fact, despite its hostility to religion, that its ambassador recently brought together 14 church leaders in the deeply religious Solomons to discuss “religious freedom”.

Confronted with China’s relentless drive, the Quad summit of foreign ministers from Australia, the US, India and Japan emphasised the importance of international law, peace, and security at sea to ensure a maritime rules-based order, including in the South and East China seas. The Quad also is engaging with its regional partners to provide technical assistance, protect nations’ ability to develop resources, ensure freedom of navigation and overflight, combat illegal fishing, and promote safe sea lines of communication. The Quad also confirmed its support for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific.

In an exclusive interview with Greg Sheridan published on Monday, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said India wanted an international order that was free from coercion, that respected laws and norms, was transparent, and respected sovereignty and territorial integrity. “These are not abstractions,” he said. “This is not a theoretical debate.” Mr Jaishankar’s remarks followed those of Mr Blinken, who told The Australian China had the strategic ambition of dominating the world militarily and economically, and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who said Beijing’s military build-up and regional actions were of “grave concern”.

India’s view of China was influenced, Mr Jaishankar said, by an incident in June 2020 when New Delhi claims Chinese soldiers advanced across the disputed border with China and 20 Indian soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand fighting with the Chinese: “You can’t have a tense, even violent, border and have a happy and co-operative relationship – that’s common sense.” The Quad’s formation of alliances with other Indo-Pacific nations will be an increasingly important plank in regional security.