On Monday, Australia’s prime minister reported his awareness of China’s ambitions in the southwest Pacific after a newspaper reported Beijing’s plans to build wharves, shipyards and underwater cables in the Solomon Islands. The Australian newspaper published a leaked four-page draft maritime cooperation agreement between the Solomon Islands and China. This report follows the recent confirmation by China and the Solomon Islands that they have signed a separate security agreement that the United States fears could lead to a Chinese naval base less than 1,200 miles from the Australian coast. The Chinese government’s ambitions in the Pacific range from it being in relation to facilities, naval bases and bigger presence of their military in the Pacific. The Prime Minister expresses his concern about the interference and intrusion of the Chinese government into these types of arrangements and what that can mean for the peace, stability and security of the southwest Pacific.
The proposed security deal with China could alter the balance in the region. A Chinese military presence in the Pacific will also completely disrupt the amiable environment that’s been enjoyed by nations for decades – and which is currently collectively maintained by Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands Forum nations. China’s growing footprint in the region also brings a strategic challenge to the United States at a time when the U.S. and China’s relationship is under considerable strain. Just as in the South China Sea, where China has sought to control one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, it’s likely China will use a similar model in the Pacific Islands by creating artificial islands and place military installations on them to deny naval passage for other nation’s air and naval forces. A small Chinese military presence giving it a foothold in the South Pacific would be a consideration for Australia and a potential drain on its military resources. This could be detrimental, not only to the Pacific Islands, but to the United States national defense and to their allies as well.
China is determined to establish a sphere of influence, a geographical area over which it exercises unquestioned authority and in which other great powers do not interfere. The United States has a sphere of influence in the Americas, and Putin’s Russia is now making an attempt to re-establish one in Ukraine. A Chinese sphere of influence stretching as far as the Pacific, policed by a network of bases, would be a truly momentous change to Australia’s security environment. The act of creating a foothold in the Pacific is more less not connected with Australia much, but more so with America. China is determined to assume unquestioned and unassailable strategic leadership in Asia, and to do that, it needs to push the United States out. China would much prefer to do this by coercion and persuasion than by fighting America, and one way to push the United States out is to convince the region that American power is waning.