Page 34 - IB January 2022

Opinion Opinion

HMAS Farncomb (Collins class) prepares to berth alongside its home port of Fleet Base West, Western Australia. (CoA / Kylie Jagiello)

PACIFIC ISLANDS IN THE

WAKE OF AUKUS

By Kaliopate Tavola tralia consulted with France and even invited the UK to sign
onto the Indo-Pacific push. However, Australia did not bother
The initial ruckus, brought about by the signing of AUKUS – to consult with the PICs.
the new trilateral security pact amongst Australia, UK and USA Japan, a QUAD member, used the opportunity of its annual
last September seems to have died down. Its ripple effects, meeting with PIF Leaders, PALM 2018, to inform PICs Leaders
however, will continue to impact and shape the geopolitics in about ‘Indo-Pacific Order’ discussions. There was no consulta-
the Pacific region for years to come. tion whatsoever.
From the perspectives of the Pacific Island Countries (PICs), Note further that all AUKUS signatories and QUAD members
there are two critical issues of concern. The first is that AU- are Pacific Islands Forum Dialogue Partners.
KUS and all related deliberations have all gone ahead without To PIC leaders, this lack of common sense on the part of
their involvement and consultation. Essentially, the PICs Australia only goes to underline the power divide that exists -
continue to be pawns in such international arrangements, not- between the developed and developing/least developed, rich
withstanding their past occasional grievances on this matter. and poor, donors of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA)
This concern is particularly salient given the fact that and ODA recipients, the strong and the weak, the haves and
Australia is part of the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) the have nots. All these intrinsically underscore the funda-
– comprising 16 PICs (including two French territories) and mental and widening global inequality that prevails.
two developed countries; Australia and New Zealand. Despite The second critical concern of the PICs is that if the secu-
Australia’s membership, it has not bothered to reach out and rity in the region is threatened in any way at all and global
consult other PIF members about AUKUS. From PICs’ perspec- tensions develop beyond joint patrols (exercises), arms race
tives, AUKUS is an imposition into their home. and war games, then the prospect of two-sided full-fledged
But this is not the first time this has happened. In the warfare will develop – USA and its allies versus China and
lead-up to the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), the its allies. The Pacific region in the middle will essentially be
‘Indo-Pacific’ geopolitical remapping exercise that gave rise reduced to a battleground. The prospect of collateral dam-
subsequently to AUKUS, no consultation whatsoever was car- age to the PICs in such a situation would be incalculable. A
ried out with PIF or any of the PIC Leaders. Australia and New nuclear apocalypse cannot be ruled out. It has to be noted
Zealand had their bilateral consultations. Furthermore, Aus- that the region had been reluctant testing ground for nuclear

34 Islands Business, January 2022