I’m not much of a fan of the current Chinese remake of South Pacific, but it appears to be going rather too well.
I wrote about the Beijing regime’s overtures to the Solomon Islands here.
How it all ended (via IISS, April):
In April, China’s foreign ministry confirmed that Beijing had signed a minimum five-year security agreement with the Solomon Islands. The deal, which Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare described as a ‘treaty’ to the Solomon Islands Parliament, has not been made public. But it is thought to be close to a version leaked from within the Solomon Islands government in late March. The implications of the agreement are far-reaching, most importantly for China, the Solomon Islands, Australia and the United States….
Next, it seems, is Kiribati and one other (via the Financial Times, May 20):
China is intensifying its drive for influence in the Pacific by negotiating security deals with two additional island nations following a pact with the Solomon Islands, according to officials in the US and allied countries.
Beijing’s talks with Kiribati, a Pacific island nation 3,000km from Hawaii where US Indo-Pacific Command is based, are the most advanced, the officials said.
“They are in talks with Kiribati and at least one more Pacific island country over an agreement that would cover much of the same ground as that with Solomon Islands,” said an intelligence official from a US ally.
The warning that Beijing is trying to further increase its clout in the Pacific came as President Joe Biden begins a visit to Asia intended to reassure allies of US commitment to regional security amid China’s push for influence.
The negotiations with Kiribati follow the deal Beijing signed with the Solomon Islands, which some experts believe will allow China to build a naval base in the country located north-east of Australia…
And now (via the Daily Telegraph, May 25) :
Beijing has been accused of risking a new “Cold War” with the West after it emerged that China’s foreign minister is pursuing a regional deal with almost a dozen Pacific islands including heightened security cooperation.
The five-year plan signals Beijing’s intent to significantly expand its footprint in the Indo-Pacific region. It is set to be discussed by Wang Yi and his Pacific counterparts in Fiji on May 30, as China’s foreign minister embarks on a tour of the region starting on Thursday.
But in a letter sent to 21 Pacific leaders, David Panuelo, the president of the Federated States of Micronesia, said his nation would argue the “pre-determined joint communique” should be rejected because it could prompt a new “Cold War” between China and the West, according to Reuters.
The plan would shift Pacific Islands that hold diplomatic relations with China “very close into Beijing’s orbit, intrinsically tying the whole of our economies and societies to them”, he added…
Meanwhile (via Defense One):
The Navy Department’s new climate strategy offers some specific goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its vehicles and buildings, but outlines no goals for reducing emissions from its largest source of energy usage: ships and aircraft.
Climate change is “one of the most destabilizing forces of our time,” Meredith Berger, the assistant Navy secretary for energy, installations, and environment, told reporters ahead of the release Monday of the Navy Department’s Climate Action 2030. “These increasingly harsh and extreme weather conditions and other impacts that we see mean that our forces need to operate in different, more complex environments while simultaneously impacting our capacity to respond.”
Last year, President Joe Biden ordered the federal government to “put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050.” The Defense Department responded in October with its own climate plan and five lines of effort that the Navy mirrored in its new strategy. Secretary [of the Navy Carlos] Del Toro listed climate change as one of the four “most pressing challenges” facing the department in his October 2021 strategic guidance, along with China, culture, and COVID…
Xi laughs.