Author: Chen Xiaochen (Deputy Director, Institute of National and Regional Studies, School of Foreign Languages, East China Normal University, Executive Deputy Director, Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, East China Normal University)
In recent days, the United States and Australia have continued to exert diplomatic coercion on the Solomon Islands, a small island nation in the South Pacific, in an attempt to force the country to abrogate a security cooperation agreement with China. Campbell, the Indo-Pacific coordinator of the National Security Council, led a U.S. military delegation to the institute to pressure its Prime Minister Sogavare in person; The Australian Defense Ministry Yardon openly declared that Australia must "prepare for war"; and some people in Canberra's decision-making circles wrote threatening to send troops to invade the Solomon Islands. The United States and Australia are so blatantly coercing a small island country, and the motivation behind it is to implement the "Indo-Pacific strategy" in the South Pacific region, and the fundamental crux is to regard the South Pacific island country as its own sphere of influence.
However, the South Pacific region is not the "backyard" of the United States and Australia, and the South Pacific island countries are no longer Western colonies. With the rise of the South Pacific Island countries' awareness of independence and self-determination in recent years, and the development of diversified diplomacy, the cooperation between China and the South Pacific island countries has been actively promoted, and it will continue to support the independent development of the South Pacific island countries.
Vigorously promoting the "Indo-Pacific Strategy"
The United States and Australia have flagged diplomatic coercion against the Solomon Islands, a small island in the South Pacific, in order to promote its so-called "Indo-Pacific strategy" in the South Pacific region and maintain regional hegemony.
The United States has paid no attention to the South Pacific Island nations for quite some time in the past. Campbell's May 2 statement is true on this point: "The South Pacific island nation has not seen the U.S. ambassador for decades. Before Campbell's visit, senior U.S. officials had not visited Fiji, in the heart of the South Pacific, for 37 years, and the U.S. embassy in the Solomon Islands had been closed for 29 years. As the Solomon Star, the dominant English-language daily in the Solomon Islands, put it, "Washington has virtually forgotten about the Solomon Islands since World War II, and now it's finally 'remembering, and then forcing Prime Minister Sogavare to abandon the agreement with China." ”
The United States "remembered" the South Pacific island countries at this time out of the geopolitical need to implement its so-called "Indo-Pacific strategy." The Indo-Pacific Strategy explicitly includes The South Pacific Island Nations in the scope of its Strategy. The main goal of the United States is to contain and even "push back" China's growing influence in the South Pacific region, and the South Pacific island countries have become victims of the geopolitics of the United States.
The reason why Australia is hostile to the China-security cooperation agreement is that in addition to following the United States and hyping up issues to cooperate with domestic elections, it is also aimed at strengthening its control over its surrounding areas. Australia's Defence Strategy Update 2020 proposes that the "immediate zone" from the northeast indian ocean through Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea and the southwest Pacific Ocean is directly related to Australia's security interests, declaring that Australia must be able to exercise influence in this region. To this end, Australia has accelerated the implementation of the "Pacific Upgrade" strategy in an attempt to comprehensively strengthen its control over the above-mentioned regions and cooperate with the so-called "Indo-Pacific Strategy" of the United States from the Southern Front. It can be said that the coercion of the Solomon Islands by the United States and Australia is entirely geopolitically motivated.
The Solomon Islands became the first victim of geopolitical ideas in the South Pacific. Former U.S. Ambassador to The Institute, Albert Gray, said bluntly that the Solomon Islands are important because of its strategic location. In September 2019, the Solomon Islands overcame many obstacles to "sever diplomatic relations" with the Taiwan authorities and establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. The United States was so angry that it retaliated against the Solomon Islands in all its aspects, one of which was to provide heavy sums of money to support the separatist forces in the Solomon Islands under the framework of the so-called "Indo-Pacific Strategy". At the instigation of anti-China forces and the direct support of "Indo-Pacific Strategy" funds, in November 2021, the "11.24" riot broke out in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, and an organized separatist mob smashed and burned Chinese-funded enterprises and Overseas Chinese shops, causing casualties and major property losses. It can be said that the "11.24" riots were directly caused by the so-called "Indo-Pacific strategy."
The Solomon Islands government diversified its security cooperation after the 11.24 riots subsided, and invited other South Pacific island countries and China to carry out police cooperation in the institute, with the aim of improving the law enforcement capabilities of their own police personnel and maintaining social stability. On this basis, the security cooperation agreement signed by the Central Authority is aimed at ensuring the development of police cooperation in China, responding to possible riots in the future, and ensuring the safety of the lives and property of personnel on the Chinese side. This is normal, legitimate, legal and reasonable cooperation between two sovereign countries. The U.S.-Australia denigration of the China-China security cooperation agreement is not only completely untenable, but also a disregard for the consequences of its geopolitical manipulation.
The US-Australia sphere of influence thinking is the crux of the problem
On a deeper level, behind the diplomatic coercion exerted by the United States and Australia on the Solomon Islands is the deep-rooted sphere of influence thinking of the United States and Australia. In their eyes, the Solomon Islands and other South Pacific island countries are just their own "backyard", and the United States and Australia are the "managers". Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared, "This is our small land." In Australia, "small land" means a small piece of open space in one's own pasture. Australian Home Secretary Andrews went straight to the Pacific region as Australia's "backyard", falsely claiming that China's cooperation with the Solomon Islands was "blocking the doorstep". In other words, the United States and Australia believe that they can do whatever they want in the South Pacific region, and China's cooperation with the South Pacific island countries is to enter its own "backyard". This is the deep-seated reason for security cooperation and coercion in the intervention of the United States and Australia.
The United States and Australia have a long history of viewing the South Pacific region with a sphere of influence mentality. In 1949, MacArthur, then commander of U.S. Far East Command, declared that the area had become part of "America's Lake." Earlier at the Paris Peace Conference, then-Australian Prime Minister Hughes proposed the Australian version of the "Monroe Doctrine", saying that "the Pacific islands are like a moat to the city" to Australia. The Radford-Collins Agreement of 1951 directly delineated the respective spheres of influence of the United States and Australia in the South Pacific, and the agreement is theoretically still in force today. More importantly, this sphere of influence mentality has become so entrenched and manifested in the context of the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" that U.S. and Australian policymakers have no regard for this blatant violation of the principle of sovereignty.
Accompanying the sphere of influence thinking is the "paternal mentality" of the United States and Australia towards the South Pacific Island countries. As Prime Minister Sogavare complained in the parliament on May 3, "We are treated as kindergarten students [in the United States and Australia] ... Need to be monitored. Although the South Pacific island countries have legally shaken off their colonial status, the United States and Australia still regard themselves as "parents" and practice the "Monroe Doctrine" in the name of the "Pacific family", which is rooted in the colonial myth that the United States and Australia still love until today in the 21st century.
The South Pacific Island Countries' awareness of independence has risen
However, the South Pacific Island countries are increasingly unwilling to be the "backyard" of others, and the sense of independence and self-determination is rising, and the contradictions between many South Pacific island countries and the United States and Australia have deepened. First, the "sphere of influence thinking" and "paternalistic mentality" of the United States and Australia have long aroused the dissatisfaction of many South Pacific island countries, which are no longer willing to be regarded as the "backyard" of the United States and Australia. Many leaders and people of insight of the South Pacific Island countries have shown that they are not appendages of the United States and Australia, but independent sovereign countries; they are not "kindergarten students" but "big maritime countries" that have the right to decide their own destiny. Second, the South Pacific island nations do not want to be caught up in the geopolitics of major powers, but rather want to address the many thorny issues plaguing the region, including climate change, ocean governance and sustainable development. In recent years, the call for South Pacific island countries to attach importance to climate change has become increasingly loud, but the United States and Australia have a negative attitude towards climate change, which has become the focus of contradictions between South Pacific island countries and the United States and Australia. Third, the South Pacific island countries attach importance to regional governance in non-traditional security areas, pay attention to regional cooperation and regional identity, and advocate the "Blue Pacific" development plan, hoping to reduce the negative impact of excessive geopolitics on the region. But the United States and Australia are focused on geopolitical competition in the traditional security field and ignore the vital interests of the South Pacific island countries. Finally, most South Pacific island countries hope to carry out independent and diversified diplomacy with the outside world, strengthen cooperation with Asian countries, especially China, and oppose the binary and opposing Cold War mentality.
The rise in the independence of the South Pacific island states is one of the major changes that the region is undergoing. As Prime Minister Sogavare said: "I advise those who call us 'backyards' to stop labeling us as sovereign independent States with equal voting rights at the United Nations." This statement is supported by a majority in the Solomon Islands Parliament, mainstream public opinion in the country and many other People from the South Pacific Islands. The U.S. and Australia's manipulation of geopolitics and the treatment of the South Pacific island nation as a "backyard" are doomed to be unpopular.
China and the South Pacific island countries continue to deepen pragmatic cooperation
China and the South Pacific Island Countries are both Pacific countries and have a long history of people-to-people exchanges. At present, China is increasingly closely linked with the South Pacific island countries and is already a direct stakeholder in the development and security of the South Pacific region. Australia said that China is not a country in the South Pacific region, so it cannot cooperate with specific countries in the region in specific fields, which is completely illogical, and it is even more absurd for Australia to draw a red line for Cooperation between China and South Pacific Island Countries. China and the South Pacific island countries will overcome the superimposed impact of geopolitics and the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to promote pragmatic cooperation in various fields.
First, continue to promote the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" between China and the South Pacific island countries, link the global development initiative with the "Blue Pacific" development plan of the South Pacific countries, and focus on supporting the South Pacific countries to do a good job in fighting the epidemic and preventing disasters and reducing disasters, developing the blue economy and responding to climate change, so as to enhance the ability of the South Pacific island countries to develop independently. Second, make good use of a series of cooperation mechanisms established by China and South Pacific island countries in October 2021, including the China-Pacific Island Countries Emergency Materials Reserve, the China-Pacific Island Countries Poverty Reduction and Development Cooperation Center, the China-Pacific Island Countries Fisheries Cooperation and Development Forum, and the China-Pacific Island Countries Cooperation Center on Climate Change. At the end of April this year, at the same time as the US-Australia hyped security cooperation agreement, the China-Pacific Island Countries Cooperation Center on Climate Change was officially opened. It is clear who is promoting and who is hindering the development of the South Pacific Island Countries. Third, we should make overall plans for development and security, promote development on the one hand, and ensure security on the other. Security is the premise of development, and development is the guarantee of security, which also applies to the South Pacific region. Taking solomon islands as an example, on the one hand, deepening China-China security cooperation and ensuring social stability; on the other hand, combining solomon islands' advantageous endowments and recent needs, it will focus on supporting the development of the blue economy and jointly building a community of maritime destiny, and recently supporting the development of the Pacific Games and the construction of a "healthy Silk Road".
Deeds speak louder than words. These measures will prove that China is providing constructive forces for peace and development in the South Pacific region.
Guangming Daily ( 2022-05-15 08 edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily