China’s ambitions for North Pacific islands a ‘concern’ for key US military buffer: report

Name: China’s proposed security deal with Pacific islands falls short as Wang Yi tours region
Uploaded: 2022-09-20T11:05:43.000Z
Duration: 1 min 59 s
Description: China’s proposed security deal with Pacific islands falls short as Wang Yi tours region

Report by US think tank says Beijing’s influence in the region could ‘imperil US military capabilities’ in a strategically vital area

US advised to boost support for island states ahead of a meeting between President Joe Biden and Pacific island leaders next week

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Majuro in the Marshall Islands. Ahead of a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Pacific island leaders next week, a new report cautions over China’s ambitions. Photo: Shutterstock

Reuters

Published: 7:05pm, 20 Sep 2022Updated: 8:42pm, 20 Sep 2022

China sees the Pacific islands as an area of significant strategic interest, and the United States should strengthen its commitment to North Pacific island states to maintain a vital military buffer, a report released Tuesday by a US Congress-funded think tank said.

China has made progress on geostrategic goals in the Pacific that it has not been able to achieve elsewhere, according to the report for the United States Institute of Peace, whose co-authors include former senior military officials.

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China’s proposed security deal with Pacific islands falls short as Wang Yi tours region

This was cause for concern but not alarm, the report added, saying the US should bolster support for island states in the North Pacific where it had the strongest historical ties.

The report comes ahead of a meeting between US President Joe Biden and a dozen Pacific island leaders next week, as Washington seeks to compete for influence with Beijing.

The Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau are sovereign nations known as Freely Associated States (FAS), after signing defence compacts in the late 1980s that give the US defence responsibilities and the right to military bases.

The compacts, which expire in 2023 and 2024, are being renegotiated, and the report warned that these states could look to China for funding if negotiations fail.

“The vast FAS territorial seas, which span much of the northern Pacific, are an important strategic buffer between US defence assets in Guam and Hawaii and East Asian littoral waters,” said the report’s authors – Philip Davidson, a former commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and David Stilwell, a former US assistant secretary of state.