US, China vie for influence in the Pacific

Group of small island nations seen to have strategic value, not to mention maritime assets

- Jonathan Pearlman

In February, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken found time in his globetrotting schedule for a rare visit to Fiji, a remote island nation in the South Pacific whose white sandy beaches and luxury resorts have made it an international tourism hot spot.

But Mr Blinken was not there for a holiday. Instead, he was focused on shoring up America’s influence in a region that has become a pivotal geopolitical battleground.

In a revealing quirk of history, Mr Blinken’s trip to Fiji was the first by a US secretary of state since 1985, when his predecessor George Shultz visited during the Cold War to shore up defence ties with the island nation amid concerns about Soviet naval activities in the Pacific.

Mr Blinken’s visit, however, was spurred by a new rival, China, whose reach has been rapidly spreading across the Pacific.

In Fiji, he held a virtual meeting with leaders of Pacific nations and announced plans for a US embassy in Solomon Islands and to provide support to the region to deal with climate change, Covid-19 and illegal fishing.

Asked at a local press conference if his visit was due to concerns about China, Mr Blinken tactfully declared: “We see our long-term future in the Indo-Pacific. It’s as simple and basic as that.”

But his trip to the nation of 938,000 people was a stark reminder that geopolitical rivalries have returned to the South Pacific, a sprawling region of remote island nations that typically remains out of the global political spotlight.

In recent years, China’s ties across the region have been rapidly expanding. Its Pacific aid has increased and it is the fourth largest donor, though well behind Australia, as well as trailing New Zealand and Japan.