Great powers seeking a warm Pacific island welcome can learn from India

India was feted when it offered cheap medicines, a heart hospital, research institute, desalination plants and its IT and solar expertise – with no mention of defence issues
This could be a template for great powers’ engagement with small nations in strategic regions

Kalinga Seneviratne

Published: 3:30am, 2 Jun 2023

Why you can trust SCMP

China’s foray into the South Pacific in recent years with a focus on infrastructure investment has alarmed Australia and its Western allies such as the US, which see it as a security issue – triggering a geopolitical contest that has raised concern among the small island nations.

Last July, at the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji, leaders made it clear that they refuse to be pawns in a game played by outside powers. They also confirmed that climate change remains the Pacific’s greatest existential threat.

A month earlier, Fiji’s defence minister Inia Seruiratu told Asia’s top security meeting, the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, that in the Blue Pacific, machine guns, fighter jets, warships and infantry battalions are not the primary security concern. “The single greatest threat to our very existence is climate change,” he said. “It threatens our very hopes and dreams of prosperity.”

Military tensions in the region escalated in November 2020 when China and Papua New Guinea (PNG) signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a “multifunctional fishery industrial park” on Daru Island, about 200km from Northern Australia. That set off speculation in the Australian media and certain segments of the Canberra political establishment about China supposedly planning a naval base on their doorstep.

Tensions moved into high gear in March 2022, after a draft security agreement between the Solomon Islands and China was leaked to the Australian media. It triggered a flurry of reporting, raising concerns that China may be moving towards establishing its first military base in the South Pacific.

Since then, there have been frequent visits to the region, particularly by Australian and US political and military leaders offering defence training deals dressed up as development aid – including help to shore up small island nations’ patrolling capabilities to protect their fisheries.

Wang Yi, then China’s foreign minister, poses with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, in the Solomon Islands capital Honiara, on May 26. Photo: Xinhua

Last month, New Delhi entered the fray when Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first Indian leader to visit PNG, where he met 14 Pacific island leaders at the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation.

In welcoming Modi, Prime Minister James Marape said the Pacific considered him “the leader of the Global South” and wanted him to take the voices of small nations to forums like the G20, where India now plays a leadership role.

Marape pointed out that because of the Ukraine war, inflation has been imported into small island nations, adding: “We suffer as a result of big nations at play in terms of geopolitics and the power struggles out there.”

In response, Modi said he had come to listen to the priorities of the Pacific and be its development partner: “India considers it a responsibility to bring the issues, expectations and aspirations of the Global South to the attention of the world through the G20 platform.”

03:01

Indian PM Modi receives rare, rock-star welcome from Australian leader Albanese

That same day, the India-funded Sustainable Coastal and Ocean Research Institute was inaugurated in the Fijian capital Suva, at the University of the South Pacific – a regional university funded by Pacific Islands Forum countries. Modi said the institute “connects India’s experiences in sustainable development with the vision of Pacific Island countries”.

India is focusing its engagement in its areas of expertise, such as information technology, solar energy, water services, and the health sector.

At the forum’s conclusion, Modi announced initiatives including a “super speciality” cardiology hospital in Fiji, equipped with trained staff and modern facilities – with Delhi bearing the full project costs.

Can India be ‘Global South champion’ amid US-China rivalry in the Pacific?

Other plans include turning PNG’s IT centre into a regional IT and cybersecurity hub, providing solar power to government buildings, and setting up desalination plants, dialysis units and sea ambulances in all 14 Pacific island nations.

India will also extend the Jaipur Foot Camps – which gave new legs to some 600 amputees in Fiji last year – to the rest of the Pacific, starting in PNG this year. As pharmacy to the world, India will also help make medicines more affordable, and has proposed yoga centres to help prevent lifestyle diseases like diabetes – a huge health issue in the region.

There was no mention of defence agreements, military training or supplying naval vessels as part of developing India’s relationship with the Pacific. Could this provide a template for great powers’ engagement with small nations in strategically important regions?

Much depends on whether India can withstand pressure within the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue to take part in any joint military drills in the region. India would also have to ensure the Sustainable Coastal and Ocean Research Institute develops Pacific expertise in the region and any new knowledge and technology is patented jointly.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and PNG Defence Minister Win Bakri Daki show the signed security agreement as PNG Prime Minister James Marape looks on, at the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation, at Apec Haus in Port Moresby, on May 22. Photo: AFP

On the same day Modi left for Australia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed a defence agreement with PNG dressed up as a naval training deal to protect its fishing resources – but from whom?

That was greeted with protests by university students and some media. PNG’s Nation newspaper described it as the government having “pulled a fast one”.

What the US, Australia and Nato fail to understand is that the Global South is angry at the West for weaponising the global economic system and US dollar to fight a war with Russia they could have avoided while destroying the post-pandemic recovery. Pacific leaders are saying to Modi that, as long as he stands up to this hypocrisy, they will be right behind India.

Dr Kalinga Seneviratne is a Sri Lankan-born journalist, media analyst and international communications expert currently based in Sydney