Page 16 - IB January 2024

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of various PSIDS from the Least Developed Country status.” security imperatives in the region.”
A high-level UN panel is overseeing the development of Fijian PhD candidate at the Australian National University
a multidimensional vulnerability index (MVI) as a tool to in Canberra, Jope Tarai, who has completed a Master’s in
understand and measure vulnerability and development Regionalism, predicts the securitisation/militarisation of the
instead of the reliance on Gross National Income (GNI) per Pacific will escalate in the coming months/years.
capita as a key criterion for finance eligibility or development “Security deals are just a part of a possibly wider suite of
support. militarisation/securitisation ‘engagements’ in the Pacific,”
The adoption of a Loss and Damage Fund at COP28 and says Tarai, in view of Solomon Islands’ security deal with China
pledges to support the Pacific Resilience Facility were long- and Papua New Guinea’s defence cooperation agreement with
awaited steps to address the twin burdens of the climate the United States of America signed last year.
crisis and the resulting debt distress on Pacific Island states, Plans by the US military to station intermediate-range
although it will take some time for these funds to be missiles, most likely in Guam, have heightened concerns
available. about a new era of American militarisation of the northern
Pacific.
General Charles Flynn, commanding general for US Army
Pacific, made the announcement, while withholding details
of the specific location, at an international security forum in
mid-November.
“Debt threatens to reverse the region’s development Analysts pinpoint the American territory of Guam as the
gains prior to the pandemic.”
most likely location because US allies in Asia are reluctant to
- PANG Coordinator, Maureen Penjueli host the missile systems.
On the other hand, there are fears China is poised to exploit
a funding breakdown in the long-standing free association
arrangement between the US and the Federated States of
Micronesia (FSM).
While the new agreement has been concluded, the current
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Programme Adviser on round of funding for FSM and the Marshall Islands expires in
Resilience Development Finance, Karlos Moresi, says while the February, with approval for the next round held up in the US
MVI should provide better access to financial resources based Congress, creating financial chaos for both countries.
on need, the US$700 million pledged to the Loss and Damage Former FSM President, David Panuelo, said in Washington in
Fund is a drop in the bucket compared with the billions December that “China is looking at the chaos in Washington,
needed to address loss and damage in the region. D.C.”
Penjueli points to labour mobility as the other major issue Delaying Compact funding “would severely impact the US
that will add to the region’s economic vulnerabilities in 2024, being the major player in our region, especially in the Freely
with the remittance gains to island countries being offset by Associated States,” Panuelo said.
the loss of labour to Australia and New Zealand. There are plans for a greater US military presence in FSM
“Labor shortage will become a significant issue for key
sectors such as agriculture, tourism, construction, education,
and health sectors for countries such as Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu,
and the Solomon Islands.”
Geopolitics Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare.
Beyond the region’s economic challenges, as Penjueli points The Solomons elections will be closely watched.
out, overlapping economic, trade, and security frameworks Photo: Solomon Islands Prime Minister’s Press
“now crisscross the Pacific Ocean tightening a noose around Secretariat Facebook Page
the islands’ abilities to assert a self-determining agenda for
the Blue Pacific.”
“[2023] saw how the Blue Pacific narrative has been co-
opted and reframed under a wider Indo-Pacific framework
by the United States and its allies without the free, prior,
and informed consent of the people of the region. While the while a radar installation is underway in Palau to help the US
final details around [the] AUKUS deal was released mid-2023 military monitor China and North Korea.
making clear both the scope, scale, and ambition of our A proposal by Palau’s President, Surangel Whipps Jnr,
closest neighbour Australia in the hyper-militarisation of for permanent deployment of US Patriot missile defense
the Pacific Ocean, a closer watch on the Fiji PM’s Zone of batteries over fears that hosting the radar could endanger the
Peace [vision] will be important as a step towards addressing population, is becoming a highly politicised issue as the island

16 Islands Business, January 2024