Australia’s neglect has let China expand its global base-building into the Pacific, but it’s not too late to shore up our place in the region.
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.
So good things were done, but none of it was enough, and certainly not enough when China started to ramp up its presence and influence a decade ago. Sometime after 2015 it became clear in Canberra that China was looking at sites for a naval base in the South Pacific. Oblivious until that point, we were sleepwalking into a new and dangerous strategic environment: a Chinese naval base or facility in the South Pacific would seriously
And it was clear that if we slipped up, were too slow, or were less adroit with our diplomacy, we would wake up one morning to the news that China had signed a security agreement with one of our neighbours.I don’t know what went wrong, which part of our response was deficient – I’m out of that loop. Sogavare is a proud Solomon Islander, and a clever and mercurial politician who has been prime minister four times in a long career. A few years ago, I called on him in Honiara and, building on the work of the High Commission, talked to him about the risks of signing up Huawei to build an internet cable to connect Honiara and Sydney. He listened carefully. The deal didn’t go forward and instead Australia funded the Coral Sea cable. Relationships – and alternatives and money – are important.
But that’s the easy part. What is needed is a fundamental resetting of our political relationship with the countries of the South Pacific.
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