Is Australia taking myopic approach in wooing Pacific nations to counter China?

Australia has signed deals with the Solomon Islands, Nauru and Papua New Guinea in moves seen as securing its clout as the Pacific leader

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Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele of the Solomon Islands in Beijing on July 12. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 4:24pm, 30 Dec 2024Updated: 6:23pm, 30 Dec 2024

Australia’s recent courtship of several Pacific island nations signals Canberra’s commitment to the region, but it is not expected to gain any lasting benefits from the outreach amid its competition with China over short-term deals, according to analysts.

On December 20, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his country would spend A$190 million (US$118 million) over four years to boost the Solomon Islands’ police force and create a police training centre in its capital Honiara.

Albanese and his Solomons counterpart Jeremiah Manele said in a joint statement the package would help the South Pacific nation to build “enduring” security capabilities, “thereby reducing its reliance on external partners over time”.

China’s law enforcement instructors are already based in the Solomons Islands after both countries signed a security pact in 2022, which spurred the United States and Australia to pitch deals to Pacific island nations to limit Beijing’s security ambitions in the region.

Alan Tidwell, director at the Centre for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies at Georgetown University, said Australia has shown its commitment to the Pacific by making pledges to the Solomon Islands, Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

“Canberra’s deals highlight efforts to counter [China] as well as maintain its role as the West’s primary shaper of the region,” Tidwell added.