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preface
Under the protracted struggle of the Papua New Guinean people and the pressure of the righteous forces of the international community, the Australian colonial Government had to agree to grant Papua New Guinea autonomy in December 1973, but continued to hold over the military and diplomatic power of Papua New Guinea and did everything possible to obstruct and undermine the eventual independence of Papua New Guinea. It was not until 1975 that Australia finally ended its colonial rule and allowed Papua New Guinea to become fully independent.
Movement for national independence and self-determination
In addition to exercising direct rule over some Pacific island regions, Australia faithfully assists colonial and imperialist powers such as the United States, Britain and France in maintaining their colonial domination in the Pacific Islands region and Southeast Asia. For example, to help the United States consolidate its hegemony in the Pacific after World War II, Australia offered to help the United States map land and sea maps of the South Pacific for use by the U.S. military in war.
For example, Australia not only plundered mineral and fishery resources from its Pacific island colonies, but also assisted colonial powers such as Britain, the United States, New Zealand, and France in plundering the natural resources of the Pacific island region. What has been most criticized by the people of the Pacific island region and the international community is that Australia not only provides its own land to the United Kingdom for nuclear weapons testing and explosions, but also does everything possible to defend the nuclear weapons tests and explosions of the United States and France in the Pacific island region.
Australia's loyalty and support to colonial and imperialist powers such as the United States and Britain has won the support of imperialist powers such as the United States and Britain, thus providing strong external support for its hegemonic construction in the South Pacific. After the Pacific island countries gained independence, the former colonial masters in the region strongly supported and cooperated with Australia's construction of a sub-hegemonic system in the region. After the Second World War, inspired by the movement of people in various parts of Southeast Asia for national independence and liberation, the people of the Pacific island region also launched a movement for national independence and self-determination in the late 60s of the 20th century.
By the early 70s, several island countries such as the Cook Islands and Fiji had gained national independence. In order to cooperate with the United States to consolidate its hegemony in the Pacific region, strengthen its control over the newly independent Pacific island countries, prevent the penetration of Soviet forces in the region, and continue to plunder the rich mining and fishery resources in the region, Australia established the "South Pacific Forum" in August 1971 to win over New Zealand to jointly lead the Forum's regional policies and control regional affairs. After the establishment of the forum, the Australian government made every effort to use the forum to maintain the hegemony and vested interests of the former colonial powers led by the United States in the South Pacific.
Pacific Islands Forum
The Australian government and military have also taken advantage of the opportunity to dominate the South Pacific Forum to continuously interfere in the internal affairs of Pacific island countries, even at the cost of military intervention. Australia also took advantage of the opportunity of controlling forums to monitor and obstruct exchanges between Pacific island countries and the Soviet Union and other "unfriendly" countries, prevent island countries from developing economic and trade cooperation in fisheries and agriculture with "unfriendly" countries, and work with the United States to do everything possible to obstruct and sabotage economic and military assistance from "unfriendly" countries to Pacific island countries.
As the number of independent island nations in the region grew, the forum was renamed The Pacific Islands Forum in October 2000. The geographical scope has also been expanded to 17 North and South Pacific island countries, including Australia and New Zealand. Australia is the most populous, vast and economically and militarily powerful of the Forum's members. Australia has more than twice the population of the other member states combined and five times the total economy of the other members.
Australia and New Zealand control the political, economic and regional security affairs of the forum, and the important positions and staff of the forum are basically held by personnel from both countries, and the forum's regional policies and external statements are also based on the control and decisions of the two countries. Through the forum, Australia exerts strong influence on the internal affairs of the islands, and even sends troops to directly interfere in the internal affairs of the islands in the name of regional peacekeeping. Under the long-term struggle of the governments and people of Pacific island countries, Australia's monopoly on the forum has not changed much until the 21st century.
In Southeast Asia, Australia's "front yard", Australia has done its best to help Britain, France and other old colonial powers continue their colonial rule in Southeast Asia, and has sent troops to Singapore and Malaysia to help Britain suppress and obstruct the national independence and liberation struggle of the Southeast Asian people, strengthen Australia's power and influence in the "front yard" of Southeast Asia, and safeguard Australia's colonial interests.
The national independence and liberation movements of the peoples of Southeast Asia are booming
After the vigorous rise of the national independence and liberation movement of the Southeast Asian people, the Australian government and military are very worried that the national independence and liberation movement of the Southeast Asian people will damage Australia's political, economic and military interests in Malaysia, Singapore and other places, and even more worried that the national independence and liberation movement in the region will awaken the national consciousness of the Australian aborigines and pose a threat to Australia's colonialism and racist rule.
Australia's attempt to pursue colonialism in Southeast Asia and turn Southeast Asia into its sphere of influence collided head-on with the flourishing national independence and liberation struggles in Southeast Asia. As a result, the Australian Government and military have shown a strong desire to suppress the national independence and liberation movements of the peoples of Southeast Asia, and have actively become involved in the colonial rule in Asia by imperialism, especially the old European imperialists such as Britain, France and the Netherlands, and suppress the independence and resistance struggles of the Asian peoples.
In addition, the Australian government also feared that the Soviet Union would take advantage of the export revolution to move south and east on a large scale, like the Japanese militarist forces before World War II, to occupy Australia's "backyard" South Pacific islands and "front yard" Southeast Asia, and then invade Australia. Therefore, the Australian government and military have tried their best to portray the struggle of the people of Southeast Asia for national independence and liberation as the "expansion and aggression" of the Soviet forces in Asia, in order to intimidate and encourage the United States to invade Southeast Asia by armed invasion and serve its own colonial interests and regional hegemony in Southeast Asia and other European colonial powers.
As a result, the Australian government and military have repeatedly communicated to the national public that Australia's national security and the United States have a high strategic fit to curb communist expansion in East and Southeast Asia. Against this backdrop of domestic politics, the Australian Countryside, Liberals, and Labor parties were hostile to the rapid development of national independence and liberation movements in Southeast Asia after World War II. In order to suppress the national independence and liberation struggles of the people of Southeast Asia, Britain signed the Australia-New Zealand Malaysia Defence Arrangement with Australia and New Zealand in 1948.
According to this agreement, Australia sent army, navy and air forces to Malaysia to assist the British army in suppressing the Malaysian guerrillas fighting for national independence and self-determination, and to help the British consolidate colonial rule in Malaysia. Since then, Australian troops have been stationed in Malaysia and Singapore for a long time, suppressing local popular revolts and independence movements. However, British power declined sharply after World War II, and by the end of the 60s of the 20th century, Britain could no longer afford to maintain the huge expenditure of its troops in Malaysia and Singapore. At this time, the United States was already mired in the quagmire of the Vietnam War, and its national strength was greatly consumed.
U.S. President Richard Nixon had to put forward the "Guam Doctrine" in 1969, making a major adjustment to the US military strategy in East and Southeast Asia, and no longer providing ground war protection to allies and protectorates in these regions. After the United States implemented the "Guam Doctrine" strategy, Australia asked Britain to lead Australia and New Zealand to sign military agreements with Malaysia and Singapore to safeguard British and Australian colonial interests in Southeast Asia.
In April 1971, the five countries signed the Five Power Defence Arrangements, which determined that Britain, Australia and New Zealand would take joint military action in Southeast Asia to ensure British and Australian colonial interests in the region. Due to the decline of British national strength, it is simply unable to carry out large-scale military operations in Southeast Asia, so the signing of the agreement by the United Kingdom is only symbolic, and it has no intention or ability to undertake specific military commitments. Britain subsequently withdrew its troops from Singapore and ceased to participate in the implementation and enforcement of the agreement.
In the mid-to-late 80s of the 20th century, the anti-nuclear and anti-war movement of the New Zealand people rose rapidly, and under the pressure of its own people and peace-loving people in the international community, the New Zealand government also withdrew its troops from Singapore and ceased to participate in the implementation and implementation of the agreement. However, since the signing of the five-nation joint defense agreement, Australia has been actively promoting the development and implementation of the five-nation joint defense agreement, continuously sending additional military forces to Malaysia, and stationing ground and air combat units in Malaysia and Singapore for a long time. Thanks to Australia's long-term efforts, the five-nation joint defense agreement has finally formed an annual meeting mechanism to regularly consult military cooperation in Southeast Asia.
Australia has also enlisted New Zealand to train the Singapore and Malaysian armies, and has even volunteered to take on air defense at a Malaysian air base. The reason why the Australian government and military attach great importance to and enthusiastically promote the five-nation joint defense mechanism is that it believes that the five-nation joint defense gives Australia actual leadership and control, which is conducive to Australia using the historical influence of the United Kingdom to promote Australia's military presence and regional hegemony in Southeast Asia.
Resources:
[1] G.P.Taylor，“New Zealand，the Anglo-apaneseAlliance and the 1908 Visit of the American Fleet”，Australian Journal of Politics & History，Vol.15，Issue1，1969，pp.55-76.
[2] Joanne Wallis，“Hollow Hehemon：Australia'sDeclining Influence in the Pacific”，Diplomat，21September 2016.
[3] Nagata Yuriko，“The Japanese in Torres Strait”，AnnaShnukal，Ramsay Guy and Nagata Yuriko（eds.），Navigating Boundaries：The Asian Diaspora in TorresStrait，Canberra，Pandanus Books，2004，pp.138-159.Kate Bagnall，A Legacy of White Australia：Recordsabout Chinese Australians in the National Archives，2018，http：//naa.gov.au/collection/publications.