US and Western allies' moves to contain China

In a move to curb Beijing's growing influence in the region, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US Vice President Mike Pence agreed with Papua New Guinea officials on November 18 on a project that would bring 70% of the South Pacific nation's population access to electricity by 2030, up from the current 13%.

Australia and New Zealand have stepped up cooperation with Japan and the United States regarding Pacific island nations. Photo: AP

In recent years, Beijing has stepped up investment in the South Pacific through loans for infrastructure projects under Chinese President Xi Jinping's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, a move seen by both Canberra and Washington as a direct challenge to its unparalleled influence.

Citing Sri Lanka, which ceded a port to China to pay off a huge debt to the Asian powerhouse, as an example, analysts have expressed concern that Beijing could use debt leverage to gain strategic concessions in the strategically important, resource-rich region.

They fear that Chinese investments in ports and roads in the South Pacific could be converted into military bases, as Beijing has militarized disputed areas in the South China Sea, despite President Xi Jinping’s 2015 statement that the country “has no intention to militarize the South China Sea.”

“Australia wants to see the United States, Japan, France, the European Union, a range of countries – and China – supporting development and good governance in the South Pacific,” said Rory Medcalf, dean of the National Security College at the Australian National University. “What we don’t want to see is direct competition between Australia and China for influence in the region. We don’t want to see a repeat in the South Pacific of Sri Lanka or other parts of the Indian Ocean where Chinese infrastructure and development aid has had negative consequences.”