{"id":39548,"date":"2018-05-28T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2018-05-27T20:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=39548"},"modified":"2018-05-25T14:01:52","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T04:01:52","slug":"kangaroo-step-up-and-kiwi-reset-in-the-south-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/kangaroo-step-up-and-kiwi-reset-in-the-south-pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"Kangaroo step-up and Kiwi reset in the South Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Australia and New Zealand are reaching for fresh thoughts about the South Pacific.<\/p>\n

Canberra offers the Islands economic and security \u2018integration\u2019 and a \u2018step-up\u2019<\/a> in engagement. The new government in Wellington promises to \u2018shift the dial\u2019 to get a \u2018reset of New Zealand\u2019s foreign policy direction in the Pacific\u2019.<\/p>\n

It was striking but appropriate that New Zealand\u2019s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, flew to Sydney to deliver his Pacific \u2018reset\u2019 speech<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Australia and New Zealand understand the demand to do more\u2014and do some things differently. And the need to do it together. That was the closing note of Peters\u2019 Sydney speech: \u2018There has never been a time since\u00a01945 when Australia and New Zealand need to work together more closely in the Pacific.\u2019<\/p>\n

Even the traditional elbow jab in any Kiwi speech about Oz was more appeal than shove:<\/p>\n

It is not a matter of the country cousin or the senior soldier anymore. We are in a serious struggle to get on top of the problem we have in the Pacific, and we need best efforts from both of our countries.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Along with the \u2018dizzying array\u2019 of economic, social and environmental challenges facing the Islands, Peters noted, the region is attracting more external actors and interests. \u2018So much is changing in the Pacific, and sometimes it is not for the best. Need and temptation often leads to greater risk than prudence would suggest.\u2019<\/p>\n

In its budget this month, New Zealand put money into its reset, lifting aid funding by\u00a030%<\/a> (an extra NZ$714.22\u00a0million over the four-year budget cycle). Most of the aid will go to the South Pacific, which Peters described as \u2018an increasingly contested strategic space\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s May budget also announced more aid for the Islands<\/a>\u2014at $1.3\u00a0billion, \u2018our highest ever contribution to the region\u2019\u2014even while squeezing development assistance elsewhere. As the previous column noted, Oz aid policy is now the South Pacific<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s view of its Indo-Pacific future was symbolically expressed via the announcement of two new diplomatic posts: a consulate-general in Kolkata, India (population: 15\u00a0million), and our 14th post in the South Pacific, a High Commission in the micro-state of Tuvalu (population:\u00a011,277).<\/p>\n

Another bit of symbolic substance was the promise to increase \u2018berthing infrastructure in Sydney\u2019<\/a> to send even more cruise liners into the South Pacific (an industry worth $2.7\u00a0billion to the Australian economy and plenty to the Islands).<\/p>\n

As an expression of strategic intent and economic contest, Australia elbowed aside China to build an undersea telecommunications cable<\/a> with Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands<\/a>. In budget-speak with a strategic flavour, the cable project will create \u2018a secure communication asset\u2019. Get that emphasis: communication (tick), secure (tick).<\/p>\n

Promising to step up \u2018our support for a more secure and prosperous Pacific\u2019, the aid budget showcased Australia\u2019s plans to:<\/p>\n