Australia pushes back against China in Pacific as coronavirus hinders influence efforts

Canberra has promised to supply its Pacific island neighbours with Covid-19 vaccines and recently signed a ‘landmark’ military deal with Fiji

The battle for influence in the region comes after China hit Australia with a series of damaging trade reprisals on everything from wine to lobsters

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The national flags of China and Australia are seen in front of Sydney Opera House. Both countries are battling for influence in the Pacific. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:43am, 4 Jan 2021Updated: 10:43am, 4 Jan 2021

Australia is moving to boost ties with small island nations off its eastern coastline, pushing back against China’s growing influence in the Pacific Ocean as the coronavirus pandemic hinders travel.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government has promised to supply its neighbours with Covid-19 vaccines in 2021 as part of a A$500 million (US$385.24 million) package aimed at achieving “full immunisation coverage” in the region. It also recently signed a “landmark” deal with Fiji, one of the region’s most populous nations, to allow military deployments and exercises in each other’s jurisdiction.

“China has largely been missing in action in regards to providing Covid-related support in the region,” said Jonathan Pryke, who heads research on the region for Sydney-based think tank the Lowy Institute. “Australia has built up an amount of goodwill by not forgetting about the Pacific in a time of crisis.”

Over the past decade, China’s growing influence in the 14 Pacific nations – whose cumulative population of just 13 million is sprawled over thousands of islands and atolls in a region stretching across 15 per cent of the world’s surface – has triggered alarm bells in the United States and Australia. Diplomats and intelligence officials fear Beijing’s ultimate goal may be to establish a naval base that would upend their military strategies.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus last year. Photo: AAP/DPA

The battle for influence in the region comes after China hit Australia with a series of damaging trade reprisals following Morrison’s decision to seek an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus. Australia’s largest trading partner has put curbs on everything from wine to lobsters, prompting Canberra to file a challenge against barley tariffs at the World Trade Organisation.

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