Former foreign minister of Vanuatu Ralph Regenvanu was also supportive of China’s backing for the Islands, according to the Independent Australia website: “They don’t presume like Australia. They can be just as forceful, but Australia has got the gold medal for that one.”
Pacific Island states do not see themselves as pawns in an international chess game. They demand respect for their own sovereignty – as shown by the reaction of the Solomon Islands to criticism over its recent security agreement with China.
According to Reuters, former prime minister of Samoa Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said of the suggestion that Pacific Island states had walked into debt traps: “Some might say there is a patronising nuance in believing Pacific nations did not know what they were doing.”
Pacific Islands countries are working together through their regional organisations such as the Pacific Islands Forum, the region’s economic policy body, to give themselves more negotiating power.
Dame Meg Taylor, former secretary-general of the forum, was reported by the Pacific Island Times website saying: “If we divide into our sub-regions, and then get played off by geostrategic interests, our own interests as a collective will be severely undermined.”
In early 2022, China and the Solomon Islands signed a new security agreement, under which it is believed that China will provide police, security and military personnel to assist the Solomon Islands government.
This provoked considerable alarm about China’s increasing influence among longstanding aid and assistance donors. Pacific island state leaders were concerned about regional security agreements being undermined.
Not all advances by China are accepted, however. China’s attempts to secure a ten-country agreement that would cover free trade, police cooperation and disaster resilience were rejected.
Source: Channel News Asia
