Penny Wong, Labor government face Pacific challenges

Australia's new Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Picture: AFP

Amid Australia’s increasingly challenging geo-strategic outlook, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has hit the ground running. Following her participation with Anthony Albanese in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting in Tokyo, she will travel to the South Pacific, leaving on Thursday for Fiji. Senator Wong’s hurried departure follows China’s announcement of a 10-day trip by Foreign Minister Wang Yi starting on Thursday in Solomon Islands.

It will take him to eight Pacific Island states. Mr Wang, one of President Xi Jinping’s closest counsellors, will end his trip in Fiji, hosting a summit of all South Pacific Island states’ foreign ministers. Mr Wang will be seeking support for a deal between Beijing and 10 Pacific countries offering policing, security, cyber support and a new China-Pacific free trade agreement. If agreed, the deal would significantly escalate Mr Xi’s grab for regional influence.

Rarely, if ever, has the foreign minister of a major power devoted so much attention to the small island states.

Lowy Institute China expert Richard McGregor believes the trip will be the biggest undertaken by a senior Chinese figure. Considering the extent of China’s global interests and the small size of the Pacific countries, “that tells you immediately that Beijing has ambitious long-term plans in the region”, he said. Mr Wang’s itinerary also will take him to Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor. He will pay a “virtual visit” to the Federated States of Micronesia and hold video talks with leaders of the Cook Islands.

Amid speculation that Kiribati and PNG may be about to conclude so-called security pacts with China similar to that signed by Solomon Islands, Mr Wang’s trip is practical as well as deeply symbolic.

His scheduled arrival in Tarawa, Kiribati’s capital, has been preceded by the news that Beijing has drawn up plans to upgrade a World War II airstrip on a remote Kiribati island. The island is 3000km from Hawaii, headquarters of US forces in the Pacific. Mr Wang’s invitation to foreign ministers of the island states to a summit in Fiji is likely to be the centrepiece of his efforts. The gathering in Fiji reflects the close ties between the Bainimarama government and Beijing.

In opposition, Labor generally was on a unity ticket with the Coalition on major foreign policy questions. But it accused the Morrison government of “dropping the ball” in its relations with Pacific nations, leaving Australia less secure in the wake of China’s security pact with Solomon Islands. The Coalition’s Pacific “step up”, Labor argued, was compromised by inaction on climate change and cuts to development assistance.

After being sworn in as Foreign Minister, Senator Wong spoke directly to Pacific leaders in a video message, declaring Australia “knows that nothing is more central to the security and wellbeing of the Pacific than climate change”.

Her proactive response to Mr Wang’s Pacific visit will be a step towards Labor’s aim to restore Australia as first partner of choice for Pacific nations. She and the Prime Minister are right to be concerned about Mr Wang’s trip. They will attend the Pacific Island Forum in mid-July, when they will present the nation’s more ambitious climate change policies as evidence that Australia is listening to its Pacific partners.

The scope of Mr Wang’s trip leaves no doubt about the challenge Beijing presents to longstanding relationships in the region, such as those between Australia and island nations. Senator Wong is right to waste no time in embarking on her own initiatives to counter the challenge. But it will not be easy. The seemingly bottomless pit and largesse of China’s notorious “debt diplomacy” is likely to be on offer at Mr Wang’s stopovers. Experience in Sri Lanka, which has a serious financial crisis because of its ill-considered acceptance of Beijing’s offers, should serve as a warning to South Pacific leaders.

Australia, using scrupulous accounting, traditionally has outstripped China in terms of genuine, verifiable aid for the island states. It is always hard to establish the truth about Chinese aid to any country and its leaders. The security pact between Honiara and Beijing shows that some South Pacific leaders remain highly susceptible to the largesse offered by China. That is a reality Senator Wong will face. The Quad summit was excellent preparation. Joe Biden’s senior advisers were reportedly “very positive” about working with the Albanese government to expand the reach of the Quad and allies in the Pacific. The President, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan reportedly discussed geo-strategic competition in the South Pacific with Mr Albanese and Senator Wong.