Suddenly the Pacific Islands have become a hot election issue. That is because the Solomon Islands agreed to China using its own security guards to safeguard Chinese businesses and projects from attack and looting in the wake of recognising China instead of Taiwan.

It raises the question; are the Pacific Islands Australia’s “backyard” (a description to which Solomon’s PM took umbrage), and if so, what could be done to keep out other powers such as China? Recent ideas have ranged from ramping up our foreign aid to establishing an Australian naval base on Manus Island to cut off Chinese supply lines to the Solomons. Such proposals ignore that Australia’s greatest leverage in the Pacific Islands is entry rights to study, work, reside and become a dual citizen of Australia.

In my view, the best way for Australia to convince the Pacific Islands they are part of our family is to sign a Compact of Free Association with those too small to be economically viable and not aligned to the USA or France. Such a Compact would give their citizens special entry rights to Australia in return for them not accommodating foreign military bases or security guards. 

That is something China could not match since indigenous islanders don’t aspire to live in Asia. On everything else – aid, investment, security forces, gratuities, etc China can outbid us. On bribes, both China and Taiwan competed for official recognition so ensnared Islander politicians in graft and compromised good governance. 

The USA has a Compact of Free Association with each of its three former Pacific Island colonies that give it and no other country the right to berth naval vessels. In return, it offers their citizens special entry rights to the USA.

The Pacific Islands are sovereign states that can negotiate any deals they like with China (such as selling one of the 25,000 islands under their authority to China). They know their bargaining chip with bigger powers is holding a seat in the UN (with a vote equal to that of every other member) and offering berthing and telecommunication facilities in a huge ocean with no large landmasses. But the possibility of forfeiting entry rights to Australia should dissuade any Island from signing up to a security pact hostile to us.

For the full text of this idea, visit https://johnmenadue.com/winning-hearts-and-minds-in-the-pacific-islands/

By Percy Allan

Percy Allan is a public policy economist and a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology, Sydney. Professor Allan is a former Secretary of the NSW Treasury (1985-1994) and a former Chair of the NSW Premier’s Council on the Cost & Quality of Government (1999-2007). He has chaired several public and private sector boards.