In the past week, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has signed security and defense agreements with Vanuatu and Fiji, visited Fiji and Solomon Islands, and hosted leaders from Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga in Brisbane.
Against this flurry of Pacific diplomacy, China tested a ballistic missile in the region, reminding all players of its presence and its growing power.
While the Albanese government has done much work in the Pacific and is generally on better terms with its leaders than the previous Morrison government, Australia can do more to be a good neighbor.
British colonists in Australia “discovered” the strategic importance of the Pacific Islands in the early 1800s, when Britain worried about old European rivals France and Germany moving into the region. Australian governments rediscovered it during the two world wars.
Since the late 2010s, they have rediscovered the Pacific’s importance yet again as strategic competition between China and Australia’s ally, the United States, has intensified.
