US’ attempt to woo Pacific islands serves its regional interests after realizing Western power vacuum in region
Western hubris
The US is seeking to return to the Pacific island region as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the reopening of the US embassy in the Solomon Islands after 29 years, bringing the South Pacific nation back to the center of international politics, as it is still recovering from widespread riots in November 2021.
Almost all the major media outlets did, in fact, use the phrase "a move to counter China" in their headlines to describe the US' decision. Along with the US' absence in the region are the country's unremitting efforts to smear China's efforts to maintain cooperation with the Pacific island countries.
In the past decades, the US paid little attention to Pacific island nations, due to a belief that in matters of geo-political competitions, such countries would be of no help, observers said.
"The US never seeks to maintain strategic stability with other big countries to safeguard global security, but instead focuses on manipulating a handful of smaller nations… this will eventually harm the US and other nations," experts said.
Long-term absence
But the purpose of the US' return can hardly sway the island nations due to the big power's long-term ignorance to the region in the past decades, experts said.
"The explicit purpose of this increased engagement is to counter challenges by China to US pre-eminence in the Pacific and beyond. In my view it is problematic because it is motivated by security concerns not necessarily shared by island leaders, who see climate change, not China, as the major threat to Pacific futures," Frank Sade Bilaupaine, Policy Consultant at Foreign Policy Advisory Secretariat at the Solomon Islands Government, said on his social media platform.
"They are truly trying to undermine Solomon Islands' interests. They have destroyed Africa and the Middle East with the same game and are exporting it here? " Alfred Sasako, chief at the Island Sun Newspaper commented.
"As far as I know, the US does not have much existence with the Solomon Islands. In my impression there was only a report about the US donating some vaccines in 2021," A Chinese businessman in the Solomon Island told the Global Times.
Riots in November 2021 that swept Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, are believed to truly reflect the scope of influence the US and the island of Taiwan over the region considering the island nation's history as a geopolitical pawn.
Aside from the US embassy's closure on the island 29 years ago, Blinken's own trip to Fiji was a US Secretary of State's first visit to Fiji after 37 years, since 1985. During the period of time, more than 20 Chinese leaders and senior government officials above the foreign minister rank have visited Fiji. Today, China is the second largest trading partner of Pacific island nations.
In terms of climate response, officials from Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, and other countries have previously said that the US was not competent enough to deal with the increasing threat of climate change and thus turned to China for help.
The main strategy of the US and its euphemistically dubbed Five Eyes Alliance cohorts to the small Pacific island countries had been "negligence," Yang Honglian, a senior researcher at the Pacific Islands Research Center of Liaocheng University based in Fiji, told the Global Times, said.
"Take Fiji as an example. The US wanted it to be self-sufficient, but also would like to take advantage of the islands to support the West on topics such as climate change or human rights," Yang said.
According to Yang, after the Fijian coup d'état in December 2006, the US and Australia soon took the step to issue sanctions against the island nation, which caused Fiji to strengthen its connections with East Asian countries, including China.
As the Fiji-China relations quickly developed, the US and Australia realized the West's "power vacuum" in the region and started to twist the situation, Yang noted.
A US Congressional legislation draft in September 2021 proposed that the US government spend as much as $1 billion a year in 14 Pacific island nations on a long list of topics, from "democratic governance" to climate change resilience, media reported.
But experts remarked that some of the proposed projects, such as those to improve transportation and electricity supply, do not possess the US' comparative advantage, but are "imitating China's Belt and Road Initiative."
"The US strengthens its ties with Pacific island nations with a very strong motivation to maintain its hegemony," Li Haidong, a professor from the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Sunday. "These island countries are playing an increasingly prominent role in the geopolitical competition between the US and China, as well as in the construction of the Pacific Ocean and even the global maritime order. So the US has begun to increase its attention and investment in these island nations."
'Our backyard'
"This is our backyard, not China's," wrote an editorial on the Australian by Anthony Bergin, a senior fellow with ASPI. "Australia and the US must respond to both development challenges and geostrategic competition in the Pacific Islands. We can't afford the luxury of choosing," he said.
"The media that advocate cooperation with the West are not few, with a huge number of supporters," said a Chinese media employee who asked for anonymity in Fiji. "Rough calculations would tell you the anti-China reports gain the upper hand. Among every 100 reports related to China, only about 30 are of positive content."
"Some local media outlets preach the 'China Threat Theory' or the debt trap, which are groundless," Yang said. "China has truly been helping local island countries to improve the people's livelihoods by building hospitals, hydroelectric stations, or sports venues," he noted.
In response to Blinken's address, the Chinese embassy in the Solomon Islands said in a statement on February 13 that, "Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Solomon Islands, the development of bilateral relations has achieved fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples and conforming to the common interests of all countries in the region." "It is hoped that certain countries abandon the Cold War zero-sum mentality, and do more practical things that are conducive to the stability and development of island countries," it read.
To help Solomon Islands cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, on February 18, a Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport plane arrived in Honiara, the country's capital, loaded with anti-epidemic materials donated by China, including 320,000 test reagents, 20 oxygen generators, 20 oximeters, 180,000 pairs of gloves, 20,000 goggles, 10,000 protective suits, 100 folding beds, and 70 tents, weighing more than 20 tons.
Almost all the major media outlets did, in fact, use the phrase "a move to counter China" in their headlines to describe the US' decision. Along with the US' absence in the region are the country's unremitting efforts to smear China's efforts to maintain cooperation with the Pacific island countries.
In the past decades, the US paid little attention to Pacific island nations, due to a belief that in matters of geo-political competitions, such countries would be of no help, observers said.
"The US never seeks to maintain strategic stability with other big countries to safeguard global security, but instead focuses on manipulating a handful of smaller nations… this will eventually harm the US and other nations," experts said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (centre L) attends a meeting with Fijian acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (centre R) in Nadi, Fiji, on February 12, 2022. Photo:VCG
Long-term absence
But the purpose of the US' return can hardly sway the island nations due to the big power's long-term ignorance to the region in the past decades, experts said.
"The explicit purpose of this increased engagement is to counter challenges by China to US pre-eminence in the Pacific and beyond. In my view it is problematic because it is motivated by security concerns not necessarily shared by island leaders, who see climate change, not China, as the major threat to Pacific futures," Frank Sade Bilaupaine, Policy Consultant at Foreign Policy Advisory Secretariat at the Solomon Islands Government, said on his social media platform.
"They are truly trying to undermine Solomon Islands' interests. They have destroyed Africa and the Middle East with the same game and are exporting it here? " Alfred Sasako, chief at the Island Sun Newspaper commented.
"As far as I know, the US does not have much existence with the Solomon Islands. In my impression there was only a report about the US donating some vaccines in 2021," A Chinese businessman in the Solomon Island told the Global Times.
Riots in November 2021 that swept Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, are believed to truly reflect the scope of influence the US and the island of Taiwan over the region considering the island nation's history as a geopolitical pawn.
A man walks by ruins on November 28, 2021 after days of riots in Honiara, the Solomon Islands. Photo: AFP
Aside from the US embassy's closure on the island 29 years ago, Blinken's own trip to Fiji was a US Secretary of State's first visit to Fiji after 37 years, since 1985. During the period of time, more than 20 Chinese leaders and senior government officials above the foreign minister rank have visited Fiji. Today, China is the second largest trading partner of Pacific island nations.
In terms of climate response, officials from Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, and other countries have previously said that the US was not competent enough to deal with the increasing threat of climate change and thus turned to China for help.
The main strategy of the US and its euphemistically dubbed Five Eyes Alliance cohorts to the small Pacific island countries had been "negligence," Yang Honglian, a senior researcher at the Pacific Islands Research Center of Liaocheng University based in Fiji, told the Global Times, said.
"Take Fiji as an example. The US wanted it to be self-sufficient, but also would like to take advantage of the islands to support the West on topics such as climate change or human rights," Yang said.
According to Yang, after the Fijian coup d'état in December 2006, the US and Australia soon took the step to issue sanctions against the island nation, which caused Fiji to strengthen its connections with East Asian countries, including China.
As the Fiji-China relations quickly developed, the US and Australia realized the West's "power vacuum" in the region and started to twist the situation, Yang noted.
A US Congressional legislation draft in September 2021 proposed that the US government spend as much as $1 billion a year in 14 Pacific island nations on a long list of topics, from "democratic governance" to climate change resilience, media reported.
But experts remarked that some of the proposed projects, such as those to improve transportation and electricity supply, do not possess the US' comparative advantage, but are "imitating China's Belt and Road Initiative."
"The US strengthens its ties with Pacific island nations with a very strong motivation to maintain its hegemony," Li Haidong, a professor from the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Sunday. "These island countries are playing an increasingly prominent role in the geopolitical competition between the US and China, as well as in the construction of the Pacific Ocean and even the global maritime order. So the US has begun to increase its attention and investment in these island nations."
'Our backyard'
"This is our backyard, not China's," wrote an editorial on the Australian by Anthony Bergin, a senior fellow with ASPI. "Australia and the US must respond to both development challenges and geostrategic competition in the Pacific Islands. We can't afford the luxury of choosing," he said.
"The media that advocate cooperation with the West are not few, with a huge number of supporters," said a Chinese media employee who asked for anonymity in Fiji. "Rough calculations would tell you the anti-China reports gain the upper hand. Among every 100 reports related to China, only about 30 are of positive content."
"Some local media outlets preach the 'China Threat Theory' or the debt trap, which are groundless," Yang said. "China has truly been helping local island countries to improve the people's livelihoods by building hospitals, hydroelectric stations, or sports venues," he noted.
In response to Blinken's address, the Chinese embassy in the Solomon Islands said in a statement on February 13 that, "Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Solomon Islands, the development of bilateral relations has achieved fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples and conforming to the common interests of all countries in the region." "It is hoped that certain countries abandon the Cold War zero-sum mentality, and do more practical things that are conducive to the stability and development of island countries," it read.
To help Solomon Islands cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, on February 18, a Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport plane arrived in Honiara, the country's capital, loaded with anti-epidemic materials donated by China, including 320,000 test reagents, 20 oxygen generators, 20 oximeters, 180,000 pairs of gloves, 20,000 goggles, 10,000 protective suits, 100 folding beds, and 70 tents, weighing more than 20 tons.
A Chinese PLA Air Force Y-20 transport aircraft carrying medical supplies arrives in Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands, on February 18. Photo: Courtesy of Chinese Embassy in the Solomon Islands
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