U.S. and China in Intense Arm Wrestle for the Pacific, Regional Dominance

In a bid to out-power China in the Pacific, the U.S is reopening embassies throughout the region, expanding aid program and ramping up its Coastguard operations. Washington wants to help the Pacific islands overcome its mounting list of threats, from climate change to illegal fishing. 

The United States has also pledged to triple the funding for the South Pacific Tuna Treaty. This could see $600 Million going to the Pacific nations over the span of the next 10 years. But currently, the money remains locked up in lengthy budget negotiations in a deeply polarized Congress. The U.S. is taking to people-to-people diplomacy, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to visit Tonga to formally open a new diplomatic mission in the capital. 

The U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will land in Papua New Guinea’s Port Moresby for talks about implementing a wide-range and contentious Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCI) that the two countries signed in May. 

Washington’s sudden but intense Pacific policy comes in the wake of China sealing a security pact with Solomon Islands in 2022. Beijing has also stepped up police cooperation with the island nation. Moreover, Chinese companies in the Pacific region continue to win major infrastructure projects funded by multinational organizations like the Asian Development Bank. 

Chinese Ambassador to Solomon Islands Li Ming told Global Times in May that Pacific Islands had struggled with development stagnation because they had adopted “Westernized” political models in the wake of colonization. “The great practice modernization abandons the old Western modernization path and provides a new modernization reference model for PICs, providing a Chinese solution to achieve long-term stability and eradicate extreme poverty.” 

However, Graeme Smith, an Australian academic, says state-owned and private Chinese companies are increasingly being forced to carry geopolitical water and prosecute Beijing’s interests. “China is now a serious player in the region with a development philosophy to sell. It’s no longer enough to read Beijing’s talking points. You have to look like you mean it.” 

The Chinese President Xi Jinping said China wants a stable, prosperous multipolar world where countries follow their own path, free from outside interference and western ideas about universal democratic and human rights.