Page 16 - IB November 2023

Regional Security Regional Security

Dr Wesley Morgan: “Strategic denial is a Jope Tarai: “When this securitisation A case of “undue influence”? Fijian Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka (left) with his
longstanding policy goal for Australia in of the region escalates, it will Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese. Photo: Fiji Department of Information
the Pacific.” Photo: Supplied necessitate the growth and expansion
of militarisation in Fiji.” Photo: Islands
Business
China-friendly Pacific Island states, Dayant observes. Australia’s military strategy can only have negative impacts
“China’s decreasing ODF engagement should not be seen on countries such as Fiji that are struggling with weak
as a wholesale departure from the region. Instead, it reflects democracies.
a strategic shift to reduce risk, cement political ties, and Having completed a Master’s in Regionalism, Tarai is
enhance capital returns. For instance, China increased aid pursuing a Ph.D. in Digital Politics at the Australian National
to Solomon Islands and Kiribati after their diplomatic switch University in Canberra.
from Taiwan in 2019,” says Dayant. He believes the so-called Chinese ‘threat’ in the southern
part of the Pacific is more a construct of Australian defence
Militarisation and security officials’ alignment to the traditional Australian-
The Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) notes that the New Zealand-United States (ANZUS) security alliance. And
US’s Indo-Pacific strategy—and by extension its investments in therefore, nothing more than a perception.
the region—demonstrates the entanglement of the economic “If you look in the north, Micronesia [is] basically a
and military in the US’s approach. northern US base. When North Korea makes a threat, if
Similarly, “Australia’s commitment to ‘securing’ the Indo- it doesn’t threaten Washington, it threatens our north
Pacific in concert with the US and other regional powers is Micronesian family. In the south, it’s all Australian bases. The
directly contributing to the militarisation of the Pacific Islands securitisation pact is all in the hands of the West. There is
region. Under the rhetoric of maintaining a ‘Free and Open no incentive for China to try and break [in] because there’s
Indo-Pacific’, Australia and the US are prioritising military nothing to be gained from having to push that. And who wants
concerns and military solutions to those concerns,” says to fight over a whole bunch of small islands?”
PANG’s co-deputy coordinator, Adam Wolfenden. On the contrary, argues Tarai, “If [China] were to escalate
PANG’s position is that “it is crucial to oppose imperialistic security tensions here [in the South Pacific], it would cost
actions and militarisation in the Pacific Islands region, [them] more to facilitate a full-blown operation because
regardless their source. A preoccupation with China as the that would drain [their] resources. The United States tried
most significant security threat to the region problematically to position themselves militarily all over the world, and it’s
naturalises and legitimises US military colonialism and US- created a weakened internal economy. [The] military interest
Australian military ambitions in the region.” of the United States is consistently consuming to sustain
that.”
Instead, he believes the fallout from the Australian security
“Australia will do everything they can to make sure strategy in the South Pacific will hit countries such as Fiji,
that the Port Vila Call is not a robust discussion where the military is already woven into the political fabric.
formally at the Pacific Islands Forum.”
- Tzeporah Berman, Chair of the Fossil Fuel “The legacy of human rights abuses, the legacy of curtailing
Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative of civil liberties in this country is being compounded by
Photo: Supplied
the overall securitisation of the region. And when this
[securitisation] escalates, it will necessitate the growth
and expansion of militarisation in Fiji. And the role of the
military.”
Pointing to Australia’s willingness to support Pacific That he says, will only add to the struggle of breaking free
governments who are interested in setting up national from Fiji’s military-oriented past.
militaries, and strengthening existing ones, Wolfenden says “We haven’t even broached the discussion of demilitarising
they are concerned that “the growing military presence in the our Constitution, demilitarising our media … the whole
region raises the stakes in a possible future conflict. While civilian politics. When you look at the climate adaptation
this is most acute for the heavily militarised US territories in plans, the key stakeholder there is not a government ministry.
the Northern Pacific, it is also true of PNG and other states It’s the military. The [Australian aid] money is coming
being draw into the Australian and US Indo-Pacific gambit.” into the military for rehabilitation purposes, for climate
Pacific Islands researchers such as Jope Tarai believe disaster relief, resilience, and so forth. That’s good for

16 Islands Business, November 2023