United States initiative checkmates China in Pacific Islands to open the door for a Chinese naval base

WASHINGTON: After the March 2022 news leak that Beijing was working on a secret deal with the Solomon Islands to open the door for a Chinese naval base, American initiatives in the Pacific islands have checkmated China.

The Americans approached the Pacific islanders without any discrimination and were also very accommodating of their concerns. This starkly contrasted with Beijing's attitude, which was of a big brother and vindictive, to say the least, reported the policy research group Poreg. Over the next six months, the Biden administration has sprung into action, addressing the concerns of the Pacific Island community, tackling climate change, protecting fisheries from encroachment, strengthening regional institutions and promoting sustainable development.

This focus is well received with Pacific regionalism at work. So is the announcement of over USD 810 million in aid. Over the past decade, the US had provided some USD 1.5 billion to support the Pacific Islands, reported Poreg.

With the Washington summit, the US-Pacific partnership has moved beyond the usual rhetoric and fulminations against Communist China.

The presence of the Solomon Islands gave an added heft to the two-day summit while delivering a rude shock to Beijing which had signed a security pact with Honiara, reported Poreg. The 11-point declaration contrasts markedly with the rebuff in May 2022 of Beijing's plan to bring under China's control everything from security to fisheries in the Pacific Islands countries.

Success came President Joe Biden's way as he focused attention on pressing issues of the Pacific Island countries, most importantly climate change. Beijing, on the other hand, made a crude attempt to bring them under its orbit, reported Poreg. Foreign Minister Wang Yi was at his persuasive best when he chaired the May meeting of ten island nations to bind them together in a security pact.

Leaders of the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, Niue and Micronesia listened to him in rapt attention. And he returned home triumphantly. It was a short-lived euphoria going by the turn of events because eight of these ten Chinese guests have now sided with Washington.

Also, turned a cold eye towards the Chinese pact that could have seen the involvement of China in their cyber security and normal policing besides sensitive marine mapping while giving wings to the military and financial ambitions of Beijing, reported Poreg. Initially, invitations for the end September summit went only to 12 island countries with which Washington has formal diplomatic relations. (ANI)

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