With China increasingly seeking to influence Solomon Islands’ media, Australian news outlets must renew their commitment – and funding – to cover the Pacific.
Three new surveys paint a mixed picture of local feelings about China. The participants did not simply ‘love China’ or ‘hate China’, but had more complicated perceptions of the country.
From the cuscus with the fancy coat, to the wallaby often sporting a single white glove, a wide variety of life evolved on island homes in the south-west Pacific.
Instead of just offering defence funding, we need to look at how hard we make it for Pacific Islanders to come here if we want a really meaningful relationship.
Albanese, in an address being promoted as the most important he has made internationally, warned of the dangers where there was not “the pressure valve of dialogue”.
The prime minister’s visit comes after a fractious year between the two countries, including tensions over China’s role in the Pacific and the postponed election in Solomon Islands.
At the end of September, US President Jo Biden will host Pacific leaders at the White House – a sign the US is taking the region, and China’s role in it, more seriously.
For Pacific Islands, climate change trumps all other threats to their security. While they welcome Australia’s new emission targets, this is an issue of survival that demands greater ambition.
To repair our relationship with the Pacific, the new government must make swift decisions addressing the climate emergency. But that’s just the starting point.
There is a long history shaping the recent pact between China and the Solomons- and it should jolt Australia into rethinking its relationships in the Pacific region.
A leaked draft security agreement seemingly proves Chinese spending ‘bought’ enough influence to get the Solomon Islands government. But such an interpretation misses two key issues.
Faculty Member, Asian Studies Program, Georgetown University; Visiting Fellow, Department of Pacific Affairs, Australian National University., Georgetown University
Professor, Program Director of Health Security and Head of Vector-borne Diseases & Tropical Public Health, Burnet Institute; Laboratory Head, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute; Adjunct Principal Research Fellow, PNG Institute of Medical Research, Burnet Institute