{"id":60007,"date":"2020-10-27T11:11:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T00:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=60007"},"modified":"2020-10-27T12:57:21","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T01:57:21","slug":"how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"How the US can build cooperation in the Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The United States is in the midst of a major shift in focus to the Indo-Pacific as it competes with China for global\u00a0influence. This contest will affect key US priorities and require comprehensive policy engagement with Pacific island nations and other partners in the region.<\/p>\n

The driver for this change is the Pacific Deterrence Initiative<\/a> (PDI) established under the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. When approved, the initiative will require the US Department of Defense to invest in stronger military capabilities across all domains. The PDI is intended to reassure allies and partners across the region of the depth of the US\u2019s commitment. Most importantly, the congressional legislation underpinning a shift in resources compels action by future US administrations.<\/p>\n

At the same time,\u00a0a smaller bipartisan bill called the BLUE Pacific Act<\/a>, introduced in the House Foreign Affairs Committee\u00a0with support from the Pacific Islands Congressional Caucus, would appropriate supplementary funding for diplomatic and civilian agencies\u00a0that would augment the PDI. This funding\u00a0would help close gaps to address areas not specifically referenced\u00a0in the larger legislation.<\/p>\n

US interests in Asia and the Pacific are secured by US Indo-Pacific Command headquartered in Hawaii. To meet the PDI\u2019s objectives, the US will provide additional resources to\u00a0help countries overcome vulnerabilities to climate change and global pandemics and enhance economic\u00a0development and\u00a0capacity-building. Additional focus should be placed on\u202fprotection of vulnerable populations consistent with the 2017 Women, Peace and Security Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The US must strengthen its\u00a0relationship with the freely associated\u00a0states\u00a0(Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau), which are critical to regional stability and security. The compacts of free association<\/a> now being negotiated will accomplish that task.\u00a0At the same time, ties with Kiribati need to be strengthened using its separate treaties of friendship and marine conservation as a foundation.<\/p>\n

The US also should align its policies in the North Pacific with its approach in the South Pacific. It needs to examine how it will refocus is engagement with Papua New Guinea (including Bougainville), Solomon Islands, Vanuatu,\u00a0Fiji,\u00a0Tonga, Samoa and Timor-Leste, along\u00a0with its\u00a0allies.<\/p>\n

The 2020 AUSMIN\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0underscores cooperation between the US and Australia that will help implement the legislative\u00a0authorisations and appropriations of the PDI. Although the PDI\u00a0has not yet been passed by Congress, the imperative for increased collaboration between\u00a0Washington and Canberra has already been prescribed,\u00a0especially on health security in the Pacific nations.\u00a0The\u00a0efforts\u00a0by the US to staunch HIV and\u00a0Australia\u2019s\u00a0ongoing\u00a0efforts to stem non-communicable diseases\u00a0would be an effective starting point for regional collaboration\u00a0on health security.<\/p>\n

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought immense challenges to Pacific nations. It has undermined key\u00a0economic\u00a0sectors, including labour, tourism and commercial growth,\u00a0and risks fraying their social fabric. This in turn has made these states susceptible to China\u2019s entanglements\u00a0in their attempts to address these new vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n

The PDI includes a broad definition of civil\u2013military assistance,\u00a0particularly when such efforts complement the significant requirements for establishing a stronger defence capability. However, Pacific nations need sustainability and continuity in their relationships with the US.<\/p>\n

Washington must be mindful that they were disappointed by its response during climate change negotiations as it became clear that there was no inclination to compensate them\u00a0for sea-level rise attributed to increased carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

The US should review the different approaches of its allies and regional partners, particularly Australia, New\u00a0Zealand and Japan, to determine where any additional funding for civilian agencies would complement\u00a0acutely needed\u00a0development assistance and capacity-building. The island nations would benefit from parallel funding of existing bilateral\u00a0projects. This approach would not\u00a0duplicate\u00a0programs funded by the United Nations and the Secretariat of\u00a0the Pacific Community.\u00a0However, it would mobilise resources to address conditions and situations exacerbated by the economic\u00a0dislocations and\u00a0privations\u00a0spurred by the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Focusing on regional health security as a priority area for coordination and collaboration with the island nations allows them and those providing help to review how existing resources can fund projects without the need to build new programs. It also could create a vehicle for other donor countries as well as Taipei to\u00a0create sustainable healthcare funding mechanisms for the region.\u00a0Within the US there would be strong bipartisan support for\u00a0an initiative that would\u00a0support Taipei\u2019s inclusion in a regional health security\u00a0program.<\/p>\n

That would complement INDOPACOM\u2019s efforts to strengthen humanitarian assistance and disaster\u00a0planning with Australia and New Zealand. Strengthening island states\u2019 capacity to prepare for natural disasters and to withstand their impacts should be linked to existing development assistance projects. Helping them build new infrastructure\u00a0beyond that required under the PDI would be essential to these efforts.<\/p>\n

This focus\u00a0would\u00a0create strong consideration\u00a0for full\u00a0US\u00a0membership in the Pacific Islands Forum based on the substantial resources to be provided to the region\u00a0that will be mandated by Congress.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a longstanding record of Congress using legislation to direct foreign policy initiatives that unify the efforts of American civilian agencies and the military. The competition with China and others challenging the US in the Pacific requires a resources-based strategy that underpins US regional commitments. For US allies and partner nations, a coordinated, comprehensive and cohesive approach would become a useful planning tool to meet common objectives.<\/p>\n

This post is part of an\u00a0<\/em>ASPI research project on the vulnerability of Indo-Pacific island states<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in the age of Covid-19 being undertaken with the support of the Embassy of Japan in Australia.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States is in the midst of a major shift in focus to the Indo-Pacific as it competes with China for global\u00a0influence. This contest will affect key US priorities and require comprehensive policy engagement …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1247,"featured_media":60014,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,2160,2070],"class_list":["post-60007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-indo-pacific","tag-pacific-islands","tag-us-foreign-policy","dinkus-island-states-covid-19"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow the US can build cooperation in the Pacific | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How the US can build cooperation in the Pacific | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The United States is in the midst of a major shift in focus to the Indo-Pacific as it competes with China for global\u00a0influence. This contest will affect key US priorities and require comprehensive policy engagement ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-27T00:11:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-27T01:57:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2714551-1-scaled-e1603757389843.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steven McGann\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steven McGann\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2714551-1-scaled-e1603757389843.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2714551-1-scaled-e1603757389843.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":707,\"caption\":\"160621-N-ZZ999-001 ENNIBURR, Marshall Islands (June 21, 2016) Engineering Aide 1st Class Henry Andermann, assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133 Detachment Guam, surveys the Eniiburr Pier prior to laying out anchor bolts for a new pre-engineered building (PEB). Construction Civic Action Detail Marshall Islands is constructing a PEB shade structure to provide cover for daily island commuters while they wait for the ferry on Enniburr Pier. (U.S. Navy photo by Utilitiesman 2nd Class Erin Burig)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/\",\"name\":\"How the US can build cooperation in the Pacific | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-27T00:11:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-27T01:57:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/05bdd95e020c7f71c83370399e85008d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How the US can build cooperation in the Pacific\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/05bdd95e020c7f71c83370399e85008d\",\"name\":\"Steven McGann\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e7e127be1344fb68dfaf7f8ed084191a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e7e127be1344fb68dfaf7f8ed084191a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steven McGann\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/steven-mcgann\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How the US can build cooperation in the Pacific | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How the US can build cooperation in the Pacific | The Strategist","og_description":"The United States is in the midst of a major shift in focus to the Indo-Pacific as it competes with China for global\u00a0influence. This contest will affect key US priorities and require comprehensive policy engagement ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2020-10-27T00:11:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-10-27T01:57:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":707,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2714551-1-scaled-e1603757389843.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steven McGann","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steven McGann","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2714551-1-scaled-e1603757389843.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2714551-1-scaled-e1603757389843.jpg","width":1000,"height":707,"caption":"160621-N-ZZ999-001 ENNIBURR, Marshall Islands (June 21, 2016) Engineering Aide 1st Class Henry Andermann, assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133 Detachment Guam, surveys the Eniiburr Pier prior to laying out anchor bolts for a new pre-engineered building (PEB). Construction Civic Action Detail Marshall Islands is constructing a PEB shade structure to provide cover for daily island commuters while they wait for the ferry on Enniburr Pier. (U.S. Navy photo by Utilitiesman 2nd Class Erin Burig)"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/","name":"How the US can build cooperation in the Pacific | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2020-10-27T00:11:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-27T01:57:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/05bdd95e020c7f71c83370399e85008d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-us-can-build-cooperation-in-the-pacific\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How the US can build cooperation in the Pacific"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/05bdd95e020c7f71c83370399e85008d","name":"Steven McGann","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e7e127be1344fb68dfaf7f8ed084191a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e7e127be1344fb68dfaf7f8ed084191a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Steven McGann"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/steven-mcgann\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60007"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60019,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60007\/revisions\/60019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}