EDITORIAL: China-proofing Pacific must be an ongoing priority for Australia and its neighbours

In April 2022, with an election just weeks away, news that the Solomon Islands had signed a security agreement with China caused panic in Canberra.

Then minister from the Pacific Zed Seselja was dispatched to Honaira by the Morrison government in what was an ultimately failed attempt to stop the deal going ahead.

Security experts had grave fears the agreement could open the door to a Chinese naval base in the Pacific, less than 2000km from Queensland.

It was a nightmare scenario, but one which followed years of Australian diplomatic neglect of the region.

Two and a half years later, Australia has a new Prime Minister, as does the Solomon Islands.

There’s still no Chinese military base, but the experience was vexing enough to shock Australia out of its Pacific torpor.

Anthony Albanese and his Foreign Minister Penny Wong have made countering China’s growing influence in the region a key priority.

The Solomons deal is the fourth security pact Canberra has inked with Pacific nations this year. Three of those deals were signed off this month alone.

The first was with Tuvalu, in which Australia agreed to come to the atoll’s aid in the event of military aggression or disaster, as well as opening up a resettlement pathway for 280 of its citizens each year. In return, Australia gets a say in any other security pacts Tuvalu wishes to strike with other nations. The deal was accompanied by a $110 million support package for Tuvalu.

Next was the pact with Nauru under which Australia committed $140m in financial aid with investments in health, education and policing. In exchange, Nauru agreed to block all third parties (read: China) from accessing its critical infrastructure for security purposes.

That was followed by the much publicised deal to establish an NRL team in rugby league-obsessed Papua New Guinea from 2028. The terms of that deal included an escape clause which will allow Australia to immediately terminate its financial support if PNG strikes a security or policing pact with China or any rival nation.

Some in Australia baulked at the cost of that deal, particularly as Australians suffered through a cost-of-living crisis at home. But at $600m across 10 years, it may turn out to be money well spent — and potentially, just a drop in the Pacific Ocean.

The new four-year deal with the Solomon Islands will cost Australian taxpayers $190m, and will make Australia the nation’s “security partner of choice”.

The Government also launched a $400m Pacific Policing Initiative earlier this year, which will train police personnel from across the region in Brisbane.

These are large sums of money. But with democracy in decline all across the world, and with China making no secret of its expansionist ambitions in the Pacific, it may be that it’s money Australia can’t afford not to spend.

The danger now is thinking that the job is done.

Leaders of Pacific nations will understandably always be on the look out for better, more generous friends. We need to ensure that it’s us they look to first.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.