{"id":73619,"date":"2022-07-06T11:00:50","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T01:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=73619"},"modified":"2022-07-07T15:33:46","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T05:33:46","slug":"wong-leads-new-era-of-engagement-with-pacific-island-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wong-leads-new-era-of-engagement-with-pacific-island-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Wong leads new era of engagement with Pacific island states"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Pacific island countries may halt the use of Australian-donated patrol boats<\/a> with defects including cracking in the coupling between the engine and the gearbox, and a fault in the vessels\u2019 exhaust system. It\u2019s a blow to the $2.1 billion maritime program that\u2019s the centrepiece of our security assistance to the region. In fairness, all vessels have teething issues. It would be remarkable if there weren\u2019t any problems with the Guardian-class boats.<\/p>\n

Despite this setback, we judge that there\u2019s now more grounds for optimism that Australia can at least slow China\u2019s expansion in our near abroad. The new foreign minister, Penny Wong, deserves much of the credit; in just four weeks she has visited Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Solomon Islands. Australia has recently joined with the US, UK, New Zealand and Japan to create Partners in the Blue Pacific to provide assistance to the small islands and step up coordinated efforts to counter Chinese initiatives.<\/p>\n

The previous government largely left engagement with the region to a junior minister. That was a source of irritation, especially in the most powerful regional countries, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. It\u2019s not insignificant that the lion\u2019s share of China\u2019s engagement with the Pacific is undertaken by its foreign minister, Wang Yi.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s inevitable that Wong will allocate some of her responsibility for regional engagement to Pacific and International Development Minister Pat Conroy. But it won\u2019t have escaped her notice, or that of the prime minister, that she\u2019s been extremely well received by Pacific island leaders. She\u2019s shown them a level of respect that wasn\u2019t evident in recent years.<\/p>\n

The Albanese government is now developing a series of policies that should appeal to our Pacific neighbours; the focus appears to be shifting more to working with the region to shape global discussions on climate change and greater people engagement.<\/p>\n

One area that offers opportunities to greatly enhance our people engagement in a way that China can\u2019t hope to match is sport. It\u2019s true that China is active in building sporting infrastructure in the region, most\u00a0prominently\u00a0Solomon Islands\u2019\u00a02023 Pacific Games stadium. But we should be investing more heavily<\/a> to strengthen existing programs<\/a> in elite sporting partnerships\u00a0and community sport in the Pacific.<\/p>\n

Another area to develop, largely neglected by the former government, is engaging with the Christian churches in the region. Christian church membership in Australia is in serious decline. But Christianity is flourishing in most island countries, especially the Pentecostal churches. Most of our regional neighbours lack serious capacity in healthcare, school education and vocational training. A number of Australian churches already have a strong presence in these sectors in the region. But with Australian government support they could do much more.<\/p>\n

There needs to be a higher priority given to Australian business through support to industry groups such as the Australia\u2013Papua New Guinea Business Council. China has capitalised very effectively on the decline in Australian business activity in the Pacific in some key sectors.<\/p>\n

With Australian banks withdrawing or downsizing in the Pacific, Chinese banks and financial institutions are doing the very opposite, including through significant loan support for the island states\u2019 small-business sectors. Many Pacific island countries are successfully growing small business in both urban and rural communities. But they\u2019re going to need greater access to finance and training, and Australia is better placed than China to provide both.<\/p>\n

Finally, Australia\u2019s defence investment program will require 20,000 more uniformed personnel to operate the capabilities being acquired. With the Australian Defence Force averaging net annual growth of only 300 people, the ADF has just put out an urgent call to recruit young Australians. We should be inviting Pacific islanders into our military for a three- to four-year period. The concept would be hugely popular in the islands and develop powerful people-to-people links with our military that would last a lifetime.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no greater bonding exper\u00adience than a recruit course \u00adfollowed by active military service. Citizenship might even be offer\u00aded on completion of service. Having Pacific islanders being part of the delivery of Australian programs to the island states, whether training, aid or disaster relief, will make that engagement much more effective for us all. Military service is a unique offer we can make that China can\u2019t and won\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pacific island countries may halt the use of Australian-donated patrol boats with defects including cracking in the coupling between the engine and the gearbox, and a fault in the vessels\u2019 exhaust system. It\u2019s a blow …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1093,"featured_media":73621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,285,2160,2323,99],"class_list":["post-73619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-foreign-policy","tag-pacific-islands","tag-penny-wong","tag-south-pacific"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWong leads new era of engagement with Pacific island states | 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\/wong-leads-new-era-of-engagement-with-pacific-island-states\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wong leads new era of engagement with Pacific island states | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pacific island countries may halt the use of Australian-donated patrol boats with defects including cracking in the coupling between the engine and the gearbox, and a fault in the vessels\u2019 exhaust system. 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