{"id":71513,"date":"2022-03-28T12:45:34","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T01:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=71513"},"modified":"2022-03-28T15:00:20","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T04:00:20","slug":"its-time-to-talk-to-not-at-the-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-time-to-talk-to-not-at-the-pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time to talk to, not at, the Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

When the draft security agreement between Solomon Islands and China landed in the news cycle on Thursday, we shared a sense of dread. Initial analysis of the agreement in the Australian media was typically narrow and, at times, downright unhelpful.<\/p>\n

The most outlandish claim was that Australia should be prepared to \u2018invade<\/a>\u2019 Solomon Islands and \u2018topple its government\u2019. Apart from being illegal and impracticable, recommendations like this undermine both Solomon Islands\u2019 and Australia\u2019s security. They can be used both to bolster complex domestic power struggles in Solomon Islands and to fuel narratives of Australian militarisation and neo-colonialism, undermining Canberra\u2019s relationships in the Pacific and raising suspicions of its motives.<\/p>\n

Other Australian media responses were more measured. But they viewed the agreement primarily through a geopolitical lens. Although the leaked draft didn\u2019t specifically mention it, all assumed that it would inevitably lead to a Chinese \u2018military base\u2019 in Solomon Islands. And they all focused on shoring up Australian leadership in the region. Recommendations ranged from Australia building a naval base<\/a> in Solomon Islands to pursuing a regionwide agreement to ban non-resident powers<\/a> from basing or deploying military personnel in the Pacific region. Other suggestions included expanding access to the seasonal worker program and increasing educational scholarships<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Largely missing were nuanced analyses that acknowledged the primacy of domestic Solomon Islands politics<\/a> and the complexity of its geopolitical relationships. This was mostly because few Solomon Islander voices<\/a> were heard in the initial Australian media storm.<\/p>\n

Australian understandings of the Pacific will always be partial unless more space is provided for Pacific voices to participate in robust and nuanced public\u2014and private\u2014debate.<\/p>\n

This suggests an urgent need for opportunities for deepening mutual understanding, building relationships and elevating the profiles of Pacific thinkers in Australia and elsewhere. Creating opportunities for Australians and their Pacific counterparts to engage in private discussion is essential to widening and deepening knowledge and relationships.<\/p>\n

Track 1.5 dialogues offer one (although not the only) way to provide these opportunities.<\/p>\n

Track 1.5 dialogues are informal conversations that include government officials and non-governmental experts all sitting around the same table.<\/a> In Asia, they are an accepted\u2014and, in the case of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue<\/a> defence summit, institutionalised\u2014part of the region\u2019s multilateral framework.<\/p>\n

But track 1.5 security dialogues comprising Australian, New Zealand and Pacific island officials and non-governmental experts are underutilised. This is despite the fact that they could provide critical opportunities for open and frank closed-door conversations to deepen understanding of the issues at stake and the perspectives of other actors.<\/p>\n

We frequently participate in track 1.5 regional security dialogues with Australia\u2019s and New Zealand\u2019s major partners at which Pacific issues are discussed. They are rich and valuable experiences. But Pacific participants are seldom involved. Notably, when Australia asked China<\/a> to revive a dialogue on the Pacific earlier this month, the proposal didn\u2019t include participation by any Pacific state.<\/p>\n

One notable exception was in 2020, when one of us co-hosted the Track 1.5 Pacific Security Dialogue held to inform the Australia\u2013New Zealand\u2013United States Pacific Security Cooperation Dialogue<\/a>. It was deliberately set up to ensure that the majority of speakers and participants were from the Pacific, which was partly enabled by its being held online due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.<\/p>\n

Post-dialogue feedback reflected the value of providing a platform for Pacific voices. Participants appreciated the opportunity to hear from, and exchange views with, Pacific participants. Australian, New Zealand and American participants commented that they hadn\u2019t been aware of the depth of Pacific expertise before the dialogue.<\/p>\n

There are several contexts in which track 1.5 dialogues could be held in the Pacific.<\/p>\n

Universities could be engaged to facilitate dialogues. For example, later this year, funded by a Defence strategic policy grant, our universities and the Australian National University will host a track 1.5 dialogue between Australian, New Zealand, American, Japanese and Pacific officials and academics on enhancing security cooperation in the Pacific<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the region, the Pacific Islands Forum has considerable convening authority and could partner with, for example, the University of the South Pacific. The forum\u2019s draft 2050 strategy for the Blue Pacific, which aims to design an effective regional architecture to respond to security and political challenges, provides the imperative. Establishing a Suva dialogue, for example, would embed multitrack diplomacy in both regional security practice and architecture.<\/p>\n

Institutionalising a program of track 1.5 dialogues between officials and non-government experts from Australia, New Zealand, other partners and the Pacific would build understanding of the region, enhance relationships, deepen trust and provide a platform for Pacific voices and perspectives. It would provide a forum for uncomfortable conversations and for solutions to be offered to the challenges facing the Pacific and its partners. It would require genuine investment and commitment.<\/p>\n

The \u2018success\u2019 of these dialogues would probably be difficult to define or identify in the short term. Dialogues don\u2019t carry the same weight at the ballot box or catch as much media attention as rumours of military bases, but the dividends of track 1.5 diplomacy\u2014such as open communication during times of crisis\u2014would be invaluable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the draft security agreement between Solomon Islands and China landed in the news cycle on Thursday, we shared a sense of dread. Initial analysis of the agreement in the Australian media was typically narrow …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":320,"featured_media":71521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,52,1434,2160,228,99],"class_list":["post-71513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-china","tag-dialogue","tag-pacific-islands","tag-solomon-islands","tag-south-pacific"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIt\u2019s time to talk to, not at, 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\/its-time-to-talk-to-not-at-the-pacific\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It\u2019s time to talk to, not at, the Pacific | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the draft security agreement between Solomon Islands and China landed in the news cycle on Thursday, we shared a sense of dread. 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