The Marshall Islands is among a group of Micronesian nations preparing to host Australia's Foreign minister this week. with speculation the real reason is to counter China's growing influence in the region.
While officially Julie Bishop's visit is about persuading more women to stand for office in Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and Marshall Islands, speculation is rife about Canberra's attempt to counter China's growing influence in the region.
Our correspondent in the Marshall Islands, Giff Johnson told Sara Vui-Talitu the Pacific is an increasingly contested area that many influential nations want to keep a close eye on.
A drone photo shows the southern portion of Ebeye Island with the Kwajalein Army base headquarters island in the distance. The island is currently experiencing ongoing power outages for lack of generators.
Photo: Anjojo Kabua
Transcript
GIFF JOHNSON: This is something that people in the islands hear from a lot of big powers. The United States say they are in our part of the world, the Australians say it, the New Zealanders say it, the Japanese say it and lately the Chinese have been saying it and traditional partners don't really like that. I think a lot of people out in the islands get amused by it as this power game gets played out rhetorically through media releases and statements and what not, but yeah it actually does have some impact out here. Some of the islands you see that China has gotten a lot more active economically anyway and this is obviously a significant concern for the Australian government but also the United States government which recently, the United States Congress directed the Defense Department to conduct a study on the North Pacific nations in free association with the United States to look at security and foreign relations implications of these compacts and aid from China in the North Pacific. So obviously what is going on with China lately is underpinning a lot of interest from the United States, Japan and Australia.
SARA VUI-TALITU: So maybe the Chinese foreign minister has a point then in saying the Pacific is not really under the sphere of influence of anyone?
GJ: Well clearly the north Pacific is in the US sphere, which is hard to argue that when you have got US territories of Guam and CNMI and then these very closely affiliated islands of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands with Washington. So obviously the North Pacific is largely under the sphere of the United States influence, and you could say various countries including Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific have been in the Australian or New Zealand sphere of influence over many decades. But there is a lot of fluidity in the economic area, and you see islands looking maybe more lately to China, and in some cases Taiwan, and the recent diplomatic war that has been stepped up between China and Taiwan in the last two years since the election of the new president has caused quite a bit of tension among the Taiwan allies for sure, because Taiwan has already lost four of its allies now for sure and so that fires up economic activity and maybe chequebook diplomacy that used to be a big issue in the region but has become less so in recent times, before this sort of renewed diplomatic war got going between Beijing and Taipei. There's a lot of things perculating in the region and they are no doubt on the minds of people like foreign people like Bishop visiting this week. The only other thing I would say is that the visit to the Marshall Islands maybe partly motivated out of concerns that the Marshall Islands has been quite critical of Australia's climate policies, and in fact some months back, top level or people at the highest levels of government here were highly critical of Australia's policies on climate and energy and I am sure that these are things on Bishop's agenda for the visit.
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