The rivalry between the world's major powers threatens to overwhelm the Pacific Islands. Geopolitical shocks could disrupt the political and security landscape and strain unity in the Pacific Islands region amid strategic rivalry between China and U.S. allies, a think-tank report warned ahead of an annual Pacific Islands leaders summit.
Pacific Islands nations are valued in the defense plans of major world powers because of their strategic location, including for monitoring and controlling naval movements across the Pacific Ocean, said the Lowy Institute report. It noted intense rivalry between countries like China, and the U.S. and its allies Australia and Japan, for influence in the region. "China's outreach and activities in the region appear indefatigable" and were being matched by U.S. allies including the largest aid donor Australia, it said. "Faced with this new 'great game', Pacific Island countries have become diplomatic price-setters and are leveraging increased competition to maximize development benefits," said the report authors Mihai Sora, Meg Keen, and Jessica Collins. It warned that this "unbridled strategic rivalry" challenged good governance and transparency, and small Pacific Island states risked being overwhelmed. The competing interests of donor countries were pulling Pacific Islands in different directions, swamping small bureaucracies, and risked distracting from local priorities.
Pacific Islands nations are valued in the defense plans of major world powers because of their strategic location, including for monitoring and controlling naval movements across the Pacific Ocean, said the Lowy Institute report. It noted intense rivalry between countries like China, and the U.S. and its allies Australia and Japan, for influence in the region. "China's outreach and activities in the region appear indefatigable" and were being matched by U.S. allies including the largest aid donor Australia, it said. "Faced with this new 'great game', Pacific Island countries have become diplomatic price-setters and are leveraging increased competition to maximize development benefits," said the report authors Mihai Sora, Meg Keen, and Jessica Collins. It warned that this "unbridled strategic rivalry" challenged good governance and transparency, and small Pacific Island states risked being overwhelmed. The competing interests of donor countries were pulling Pacific Islands in different directions, swamping small bureaucracies, and risked distracting from local priorities.
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China had become a major player in the region, in development finance, ports, airports, and telecommunications, and has sought a greater role in the military, policing, digital connectivity, and media. The Pacific Islands' vulnerability to climate change was also being leveraged, with external partners offering assistance for access to the Pacific, the report said, without naming the countries. "Mobilizing naval and air assets for disaster response involves securing rights to use ports, airstrips, and maritime routes," prompting large powers to jostle to be the first to respond. Three Pacific Islands leaders were hosted by China for extended tours of North Asia before the Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting in Tonga, which begins on Monday. Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Tuesday, even as Fiji's government signed a deal with the U.S. Peace Corps to recruit software engineers and announced Google would build a $200 million data center to support a new subsea cable. The leaders of Vanuatu and Solomon Islands visited China in July. The report found Pacific Island countries were "asserting their needs more boldly in international engagements, asking for better deals on trade, labor mobility, digital connectivity, and climate resilience."
China, Australia Donate Buildings, Airstrips in Pacific Influence Race
China has donated a presidential building complex in Vanuatu while Australia and New Zealand inaugurated a A$55 million airfield in neighboring Solomon Islands, amid competition for influence in the Pacific Islands region. New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters was in Solomon Islands on Tuesday to hand over the A$55 million ($36.55 million) airfield in Western Province funded by New Zealand and Australia. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele, also at the ceremony, is expected to travel soon to China, after visiting Australia last week on his first overseas visit in the role. Manele told media after returning to Solomon Islands on Saturday that Solomon Islands had asked Australia to fund the recruitment of local police over the next decade, so the nation could "look after ourselves" for domestic security. Solomon Islands has security ties with China and Australia, although the new government elected in April is reviewing its security arrangements, Manele said. Hu Chunhua, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CCPPCC), took part in a ceremony in Vanuatu on Monday to hand over a presidential office, and finance and foreign ministry buildings built by China in Vanuatu's capital Port Vila on Monday. A boat donated by Australia to Vanuatu's police force, to boost maritime surveillance arrived in Port Vila this week, Australia's High Commission said in a statement. China is the largest external creditor to Vanuatu after a decade of infrastructure building, while Australia is its biggest aid donor. Hu also visited the biggest Pacific Island nation, Papua New Guinea, which has defense ties with the United States, last week. "China is committed to developing friendly cooperation with Pacific Island countries, including Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands," China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.
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| Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele shakes hands with Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Australia’s national parliament, on his first visit to Australia since winning a national election, in Canberra, Australia, June 26, 2024. REUTERS/Kirsty Needham |
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manele in Canberra to Discuss Ties
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele met Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra on Wednesday to discuss security and development ties, as the United States and China vie for influence in the Pacific Islands region. Manele is on his first visit to Australia since becoming leader after national elections in April. He is expected to visit China in July, Solomon Islands media have reported. Australia is the Solomon Islands largest development partner and wants to deepen security ties. Manele had told Australia's Defense Minister Richard Marles, who visited last month, his government was undertaking a security review to determine the future of policing cooperation. Australia and China have a policing presence on the archipelago, strategically located 1,600 km (990 miles) northeast of Australia. A security pact struck with China in 2022 by the previous pro-Beijing leader Manasseh Sogavare, alarmed Canberra and Washington amid concern over China's naval ambitions in the region.
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| On file the Pictures From Reuters |
Renowned British Tech Entrepreneur Mike Lynch and Daughter Among Six Missing After Luxury Yacht Sinks off Sicily Coast
Renowned British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter were among the six individuals reported missing after a tragic incident where a luxury yacht, the British-flagged Bayesian, sunk off the coast of Sicily.
The vessel, which was carrying a total of 22 people, including Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, was anchored near the port of Porticello when it was struck by a severe storm in the early hours of Monday.
Eyewitnesses described the yacht vanishing beneath the waves in a matter of minutes, despite expectations that a boat of its size would have been designed to stay afloat for an extended period even after taking on water. While fifteen individuals managed to escape before the yacht capsized, one person was found deceased, leaving six passengers, including Lynch, his daughter, Judy and Jonathan Bloomer, and Chris and Neda Morvillo, unaccounted for.
Despite the search efforts, rescuers expressed little hope of finding additional survivors, indicating that the bodies of the missing individuals might be trapped inside the submerged vessel. The challenging conditions, with the yacht lying at a depth of 49 meters (160 feet), allowed divers only a limited time window to explore the wreck site.
Fire department officials leading the search operation highlighted the difficulties faced by divers in accessing the confined spaces within the yacht, emphasizing the complexity of maneuvering and finding alternative routes inside the vessel. Reports from the scene indicated that the yacht appeared to be intact, lying on its right side, with uncertainties about the condition of its mast following the storm.
Mike Lynch, a prominent figure in the UK's tech industry, is known for founding Autonomy, the country's largest software firm, which he later sold to HP for $11 billion in 2011. The subsequent legal battle with HP accusing Lynch of fraud culminated in a high-profile trial in San Francisco, where he was eventually acquitted by a jury in June.
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