[PDFlist] Pacific News - Today

[Soloveni Vitoso]

PACNEWS

Pacific News Agency Service - administered by the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA)

In this bulletin:

1. VAN --- Powerful 6.1-magnitude quake strikes Vanuatu
2. CHINA --- PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill meets with Xi Jinping; praises China's Belt and Road initiative
3. TONGA --- Tonga’s cyclone Gita recovery receives significant boost
4. PACIFIC --- French reforms to continue in Pacific territories
5. PNG --- Australia must be genuine, says Abel
6. CNMI --- Kilili: Reduced tension in Korea good for Marianas
7. A/SAMOA --- American Samoa’s Amata welcomes Trump’s action to keep families together
8. PNG --- Abel calls for leaders meeting to address landowner issues
9. PACNEWS BIZ --- Samoa Parliament passes budget
10. PACNEWS BIZ --- North Pacific working towards stronger Public financial Management
11. PACNEWS IN FOCUS --- Our Oceania: ‘Part of being there for your kids is being healthy'
12. PACNEWS DIGEST --- China’s Pacific presence improves Australian aid


Powerful 6.1-magnitude quake strikes Vanuatu

PORT VILA, 22 JUNE 2018 (AFP) --- A powerful 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit Vanuatu on Friday (Jun 22), US seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The quake struck at a depth of 21 kilometres, some 30 kilometres west of the capital Port Vila, the US Geological Survey said.

USGS said there was low likelihood of casualties and damage although it added that recent earthquakes in the area had caused secondary hazards such as landslides.

People in the region live in structures that are highly vulnerable to earthquake shaking, USGS said, although some resistant buildings exist.

Vanuatu, with a population of about 280,000 spread over 65 inhabited islands, is regarded as one of the world's most disaster-prone countries.

It sits on the so-called "Pacific Rim of Fire," making it vulnerable to strong earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, while powerful cyclones also regularly lash the islands.

PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill meets with Xi Jinping; praises China's Belt and Road initiative

BEIJING, 23 JUNE 2018 (ABC/REUTERS) --- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing as part of a trip expected to include the Pacific nation signing on to Beijing's One Belt One Road initiative.

During the meeting, the two leaders agreed to promote bilateral relations between the two nations to a new level.

Xi said PNG was an influential Pacific island country, noting that China-PNG relations had made historic progress since their establishment 42 years ago, especially after a strategic partnership was established in 2014.

“Mutual political trust and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides have reached a new historical level,” Xi said.

“China appreciates Papua New Guinea's firm adherence to the One-China policy and is willing to work together with Papua New Guinea to strengthen communication, deepen cooperation, expand exchanges and push bilateral relations to a new level.”

Xi stressed that not long ago PNG officially joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and is the first Pacific island country that signed a memorandum of understanding on the Belt and Road construction.

He said both sides should actively expand pragmatic cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road so as to inject a new power to the sustainable and stable development of the bilateral relationship.

O'Neill said PNG had been committed to deepening the strategic partnership with China, and firmly adhered to the one-China principle.

“Papua New Guinea is committed to deepening its strategic partnership with China, firmly pursuing the One-China policy, highly praising and actively supporting president Xi Jinping's great 'One Belt, One Road' initiative,” he said.

He said that he hoped to expand “cooperation with China in the fields of economy and trade, investment, agriculture, tourism, and infrastructure”.

Xi also said China was willing to enhance coordination in multilateral mechanism with PNG and supported the country to host this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting for building an open Asian-Pacific economy.

According to the Lowy Institute, China spent US$858.4 million on 27 projects in PNG between 2006 and 2016.

China's influence can be seen in the funding of Port Moresby's new US$35 million International Convention Centre, the venue for the upcoming APEC summit.

China has also been involved in large-scale road projects, building a six-lane boulevard between the convention centre and the nearby national parliament — worth an estimated US$40 million — and an upgrade to the Port Moresby freeway.

O'Neill arrived in China on Wednesday for a week-long visit to strengthen ties with China that will include visits to Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

His visit comes amid continued concern in Australia about the growing influence of China in the Pacific region, with Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop telling Fairfax Australia wanted to be the “natural partner of choice” to Pacific nations.

But Peter Hartcher, the political editor for the Sydney Morning Herald, said Australia had “already been caught napping” on investment in the Pacific.

“The Australian Government now finds itself in a catch-up phase,” Hartcher told the ABC the World programme.

“The reason that countries like Papua New Guinea and earlier Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands are interested in Belt and Road … is we haven't been such great and generous benefactors ourselves over recent decades.”

Hartcher added that it was unlikely Australia could keep up with the size of Beijing's foreign aid warchest.

“You don't need a begging bowl when you go to Beijing these days because the Chinese have put out a giant honeypot … a giant treasure chest,” he said.

“They've invited more than 100 countries in the world to participate and take some of the treasure, at least as a loan. You don't need to beg. The Chinese are practically ladling it out,” he said.

Tonga’s cyclone Gita recovery receives significant boost

WASHINGTON 22 JUNE 2018 (WORLD BANK) --- The World Bank’s board of executive directors has approved an additional US$10 million for Tonga’s Second Inclusive Growth Development Policy Operation, as the nation continues to recover from February’s Tropical Cyclone Gita.

The Second Development Policy Operation was approved in April 2017, and supported reforms to strengthen the government’s finances and foster a more dynamic economy.  The severe impact of Category 4 Tropical Cyclone Gita, the strongest cyclone to impact Tonga since 1982, has prompted a need for additional support for the government’s recovery efforts and to advance its longer-term economic reform agenda.

“Supplemental financing for the Development Policy Operation bolsters the government’s efforts to meet the urgent needs of cyclone recovery and ensure that its finances are sustainable,” said Michel Kerf, Country Director for Papua New Guinea and Pacific Islands. “The World Bank stands by the government of Tonga as it continues to deliver on its reform agenda while facing the impacts of the worst natural disaster to hit the Kingdom in decades.”

Supported by the current series of three Development Policy Operations, the government will continue to implement reforms to increase revenue collection, better manage spending on public sector salaries, and adopt a rule-based fiscal strategy. To promote a more dynamic and inclusive economy, the government also plans to adopt more streamlined rules for foreign investment, increase private sector participation in public enterprises, put in place employment relations legislation, and more efficiently regulate the energy sector.

Supplemental funds for the Tonga Second Development Policy Operation will be funded through a US$10 million grant from the Crisis Response Window of the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s fund for the most in-need countries. The Crisis Response Window was established in 2011 to help recipients of IDA financing recover from severe disasters and crises.... PACNEWS

French reforms to continue in Pacific territories

PAPE'ETE, 22 JUNE 2018 (RNZ PACIFIC) --- The French overseas minister Annick Girardin has ruled out sparing French Polynesia and New Caledonia from reforms being pursued by the French Government.

Girardin has told the French Senate that it is a priority to take into account every territory's special circumstances but some requests have to be rejected because they would defeat the purpose of the reforms.

She said the president's plan for an efficient democracy involved reducing the size of each assembly by 30 percent.

She said every territory was guaranteed at least one seat in the Paris assemblies.

Earlier this month, French Polynesia's political parties spoke out against the planned cuts and limits to the number of terms mayors could serve.

A French Polynesian member of the French Senate representing the ruling Tapura Huiraatira party, Lana Tetuanui, said the plan amounted to a muzzling of democracy.

A pro-independence opposition politician Antony Geros said France should not interfere in local politics, referring to the repeated re-election of Oscar Temaru as the mayor of Faaa.

As such a reform would supersede French Polynesian rules for the top job, Edouard Fritch could become eligible to run for the presidency again in 2023.

He had earlier said the current term was his last one.

Australia must be genuine, says Abel

PORT MORESBY, 22 JUNE 2018 (POST COURIER) --- Papua New Guinea deputy Prime Minister Charles Abel has assured Australia that she remains a primary partner to Papua New Guinea, but to engage more meaningfully amid the closest neighbour’s concerns about China’s rapid grip in the Asia-Pacific region.

Abel, who is also Treasury Minister, visited Australia on a short but busy schedule where he had key dialogue with his counterpart Michael McCormack, Treasurer Scott Morrison, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and other leaders.

He also delivered a keynote address in Townsville at a breakfast fundraiser for YWAM medical ships, then travelled to Sydney to address the Lowy Institute and held high level meetings in Canberra.

He arrived back in Port Moresby Thursday to be acting Prime Minister while Prime Minister Peter O’Neill is in China on a State visit.

His message to Australia is: “if you are our primary partner than lets engage meaningfully, you don’t need visa on arrival, let’s access your education system, let’s have more Australians working in Papua New Guinea and let’s really work together in an even more genuine way.

“Even though you are a wonderful partner and will continue to be so and you will always be our special friend, there is nothing wrong with how we have been doing things because the world is changing and you can see some of the comments coming from Australians themselves when you refer to China,” Abel said.

“I emphasis that it’s very important that Australia especially and United States remain engaged with us so that we all work together for regional stability and for mutual benefit of both countries, he said.

Kilili: Reduced tension in Korea good for Marianas

WASHINGTON, 23 JUNE 2018 (MARIANAS VARIETY) --- The Marianas’ ties to South Korea and regional stability were the focus for U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan in a meeting with vice foreign minister Lim Sung-nam.

Lim is the highest ranking official of the South Korean government to visit Washington since President Trump’s summit with North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, last week. The Congressman met Lim along with Rep. Ami Bera, D-CA and co-chair of the Congressional Study Group on Korea, and Reps. Joe Wilson, R-SC, and John Faso, R-NY.

Sablan said he is optimistic about improvements in the relations between the U.S. and North Korea and how that will benefit the Marianas. “De-escalation of tensions has to have a positive effect on our region generally,” Sablan said. “Whether it is Korean business looking for investment opportunity or Korean families who want to vacation, everyone is going to feel a little more confident about the future, if the U.S. and North Korea are talking.”

Lim urged the congressmen to continue to speak in favor of denuclearization and to support peaceful settlement of grievances on the Korean Peninsula. And the lawmakers reaffirmed America’s alliance with South Korea.

“South Korea, particularly President Moon Jae-in, has to be congratulated for acting as a go-between for North Korea and the U.S.,” Sablan said. “President Moon’s outreach to the North was really the catalyst for what became the Singapore summit. And, of course, it was the South Korean government that carried the North’s initial invitation to meet to President Trump.”

“The geopolitics of our Western Pacific region are very much in flux these days,” the Marianas Congressman observed. “I think we all have to learn the importance of talking with each other — especially with those we disagree with, he said.

American Samoa’s Amata welcomes Trump’s action to keep families together

PAGOPAGO, 22 JUNE 2018 (MARIANAS VARIETY) --- U.S. Congresswoman Aumua Amata of American Samoa released a statement updating immigration policy efforts, and welcoming President Trump’s announcement:

“I welcome President Trump’s decision to sign an executive order ending family separations when adults are held longer in asylum cases. He is doing the right thing.

“Over the past 24 hours, I discussed the immigration issue with colleagues and heard many thoughts and concerns. Even before the President’s announcement, those conversations made me optimistic the Congress would make progress in the right direction, and the President had assured us he is open to the necessary solutions.

“I support keeping families together in all but extreme cases that have been reviewed thoroughly by proper authorities, and I support sensible and prompt changes to the current practices. I strongly believe our national immigration policies must preserve, protect and encourage the family unit as much as possible, and I’m very pleased to see this important change.

“In discussions with my colleagues, my guiding principle was that we should all focus on keeping the best interests of the child first, and I firmly believe we can continue to do that and still ensure the law is upheld,” he said.

 Abel calls for leaders meeting to address landowner issues

PORT MORESBY,22 JUNE 2018 (POST COURIER) --- The State is fully committed to honouring all the commitments contained in the oil and gas agreements, Papua New Guinea deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Treasury Charles Abel said.

Abel said this on his return from Australia and is now the acting Prime Minister. He called for a security briefing and meeting with political leaders to address the problems at Angore.

“You’ve got the main landowners and the peripheral landowners and it’s not easy, you have court cases going on and you have obligations from the government,” he said.

 Abel endorsed the statements by Tari-Pori and Finance Minister James Marape and Governor Phillip Undialu on the sensitivity, the history and legacy issues of not resolving the landowner identification process.

“These are making it difficult but the State is fully committed to the UBSA and LBBSA commitments and we’ve been trying to meet those and it’s not easy sometimes when you have court cases with different factions and so on, so we are systematically working through that, we also have the commitments relating to equity, the 4.27 per cent that is also being worked on, the commitment on royalties, they are accumulating in the bank,” he said.

“We made some of the payments to Central plant site landowners, we are working on releasing the money for the pipeline and we would very much like to release the well head site landowner money and I think there some issues held up by the earthquake and Petroleum Department is picking up on it again and we are working through those issues to get them out as soon as possible.

“We have to make sure that benefits flow to our landowners and benefits ultimately flow to PNG in jobs and in revenue so that this country develops, that’s the reason why we have these projects but we have very good partners in ExxonMobil and Oil Search and our people who are buying the gas and it’s important that we learn and find a way forward for the good of everybody.

“Violence is not the way to do it, sometimes we cut ourselves in the foot when we attack the very agencies that are trying to provide service to us.

“These are our people not foreigners, they are Papua New Guineans and we have to work together with them to resolve the issues and to makes sure that those issues are listened to and we work together to bring normalcy and services to our people,” he said.

Samoa Parliament passes budget

APIA, 22 JUNE 2018 (SAMOA OBSERVER) --- Samoan Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti’s $932.92 million (US$363.64 million) budget for 2018/2019 was passed by Parliament last night.

The nod of approval was given after three days of budget debate where Parliament worked into the night to discuss the budget allocations.

Cabinet Ministers spent Thursday addressing the concerns raised by Members of Parliament in relation to developments within their constituencies.

In summing up, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi highlighted the importance of the development projects the Government has committed to carry out.

He reminded that since the HRPP came into power, Samoa has come a long way, socially and economically.

He said Samoa was once among the poorest countries in the world but that has changed due to the Government’s commitment to improve the lives of members of the public.

Deputy Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa spoke about the importance of putting people first in terms of development. As Members of Parliament, they should always remember that their work is geared towards improving the prospects of the people they govern.

The Minister of Finance, Sili, tabled the budget under the theme “The Right Path” two weeks ago.

With total Revenues estimated at $849.48 million (US$331.6 million), a deficit of $85.44 million (US$33.26 million) is forecasted. Sili said the Budget continues the Government’s commitment to improve the quality of life for all Samoans and continues its commitment to equity.

“There is positive optimism in the economy over the medium term,” Sili said during his budget address.

“It means businesses will enjoy an environment that creates opportunities for them to grow and to help create jobs for our people. It also means there will be fiscal space for government to provide the services required by our people,” he said.

“But we should never lose sight of the fact that Samoa faces a number of risks. That underscores the need for the government to continue to put in place the policy framework that will ensure macroeconomic stability and fiscally responsible.”  he said.

North Pacific working towards stronger Public financial Management

WASHINGTON, 22 JUNE 2018 (WORLD BANK) --- The Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands will benefit from efforts to strengthen the management of their public finances, with the approval by the World Bank’s Board of executive directors of projects in each of the North Pacific nations.

Both countries face limited opportunities to develop competitive local production and export industries. As a result, public administration and social services comprise the bulk of their economies. Ensuring the short and long-term health of government budgets and delivery of public services is critical, particularly with some of the education, health and infrastructure grants provided by the United States under the Compact of Free Association agreements scheduled to end in 2023.

“Ensuring effective management of public finances is critical to maintaining the delivery of quality public services – from health, to education and vital infrastructure,” said Michel Kerf, Country Director for Papua New Guinea and Pacific Islands. “We are pleased to be able to support the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands as they build stronger systems and procedures for better budget design, execution and reporting.”

Under the Project for Strengthening Public Financial Management, the Federated States of Micronesia will use funds to build more consistency across the creation, execution and reporting of national and state budgets. The project will also support the implementation of an integrated system for financial management information and a new revenue management system to strengthen coordination between government agencies about allocation of resources and improving efficiency in tax administration. The projects will also help to better connect the financial systems of the national and four state governments.

Under the Project to Strengthen Budget Execution and Financial Reporting Systems, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, will strengthen the processes, procedures and regulations governing the formulation, execution and financial reporting of budgets. To be rolled out in government offices in Majuro and Ebeye, the project will also design and implement new systems for financial management information, train staff in both finance and IT skills; and support the rollout of the new systems. The project will also focus on procurement reforms and updating poverty and economic data to improve policy planning and analysis.

Both projects reflect the Public Financial Management Roadmaps established by each country, which set out plans to improve governance and the efficiency and effectiveness of financial systems and procedures.

The projects are funded by a US$11 million grant for the Federated States of Micronesia and a US$9 million grant for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, both from the International Development Association, the World Bank’s fund for the most in-need countries. These funds complement previous engagements by the Asian Development Bank, the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund.

Our Oceania: ‘Part of being there for your kids is being healthy'

SAIPAN, 22 JUNE 2018 (MARIANAS VARIETY) --- Non-communicable diseases or NCDs like diabetes, cancer, and hypertension are ravaging the Saipan community. They’ve been doing so for years.

The late Governor Eloy S. Inos declared that the CNMI was suffering from an NCD crisis back in 2013, when he signed the NCD Directive. Unfortunately, the crisis rages on today, with more casualties than ever.

“So many kids here don’t have their grandparents because of NCDS,” Dr. Don Hardt told a crowd assembled at the Pacific Islands Club on Tuesday. “I have so much respect for the family values here, but part of being there for your kids is being healthy, being there in the first place.”

His listeners were attendees of a three-day Strategic Planning Workshop put on by the Non-Communicable Disease Bureau in association with the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, the Division of Public Health Services and the Office of the Governor.

The workshop invited community members from all spectrums of the public — from senators to high school students — to share their perspectives and work together toward finding solutions to the CNMI’s NCD epidemic.

While the workshop discussed cancer and tobacco, alcohol, and betel nut use, its main focus was tackling obesity and diabetes on the island. Dr. Don Hardt and his brother, Dr. David Hardt, head the Hardt Eye Clinic and Diabetes Education Center. During his presentation, he listed some alarming statistics:

Twelve percent of mainland America suffers from Type 2 Diabetes. According to a 2016 survey, the numbers are much worse in the CNMI, where 22 percent of Carolinians and 25 percent of Chamorros have been diagnosed with the disease. These proportions are even more severe when the age of the CNMI population is taken into consideration; the U.S. mainland has four times as many people over the age of 75, meaning the diabetics in the CNMI are relatively young, and there is plenty of time for their numbers to grow over the next few decades.

“We should be lower, not double,” said Dr. Hardt. “And the diabetes we have is much, much worse.”

According to Dr. Hardt, this health epidemic isn’t just a human issue. It’s also an economic blight on the CNMI government; given that 72 percent of the 182 Saipan residents on dialysis are receiving treatment for their diabetes and twelve months’ worth of dialysis costs US$88,000, Hardt estimates that diabetes treatment as a whole drains US$150 million-US$200 million from the local economy each year.

To be sure, an individual’s diet and exercise play a major role in contracting diabetes. According to the CNMI’s Non-Communicable Disease and Risk Factor Hybrid Surveillance Report of 2016, 74 percent of the CNMI population drinks at least one sugar-sweetened beverage each day; 30 percent drink two or more. And around 75 percent of locals eat fewer than their recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Add an island-wide unbalanced diet to the fact that 33 percent of CNMI residents reported not exercising even once in the past month, and it starts to become clear how 83 percent of Chamorros, 86 percent of Carolinians, 77 percent of other Pacific Islanders, and 54 percent of Filipinos are currently overweight and/or obese.

With numbers this drastic, many believe that blaming the individual for his or her poor health is over-simplifying a more complicated societal issue. As Dr. Deborah Cohen explains in a Ted Talk titled “A Big Fat Crisis,” community- and country-wide factors can play into people’s capacity to control and understand their health.

And many of those larger factors ring true to the CNMI: people are more likely to make poor nutritional choices if they live in “food swamps” where unhealthy food is “ubiquitous, cheap, and marketed relentlessly.” People are less likely to live active lifestyles if they live in villages and cities where it is difficult to walk, bike, or take public transportation. In fact, a lack of easy, affordable transportation makes it harder for community members to receive healthcare and depletes a community’s social ties, more factors that lead to isolated, unhealthy, sedentary lifestyles.

But, as regulations on alcohol and tobacco have proven in the past, governments and public interest groups can curb the negative societal factors leading to health epidemics and instead open the door for healthier living in their communities.

The Strategic Planning Workshop participants set off to do exactly this. Attendees broke off into groups depending on their specialties and formed goals and strategies for improving health in the CNMI.

The clinical linkage group seeks to lower the number of people who reported never having had a check-up from 21 percent to 20 percent by 2021. The nutrition group hopes to raise the number of community gardens in the CNMI from 33 to 100. The cancer group plans to increase the number of cancer screenings made available throughout the CNMI. The policy group plans to launch a pilot programme that creates safer, walk-able and bike-able paths in one village on Saipan, in hopes of expanding such pathways across the CNMI. The tobacco group will train more tobacco prevention and cessation experts, and the physical exercise group hopes to increase the number of people who report having exercised in the past month from 67 to 80 percent.

Ultimately, improving health in the CNMI will come down to government agencies, public interest groups, families, and individuals working in tandem. As George Cruz, past president of the Diabetes Prevention Coalition, told the Strategic Planning Workshop on Wednesday: “Live like your life depends on it — stay active, eat healthy, live healthy.”

  China’s Pacific presence improves Australian aid

By Shahar Hameiri

BRISBANE, 22 JUNE 2018 (THE INTERPRETER) --- Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s comments on Monday that Australia will compete with China in the Pacific over funding infrastructure projects, to ensure that small island countries “retain their sovereignty”, sounds rather ironic given Australia’s highly interventionist stance towards the region in recent decades.

However, irrespective of the merit of Chinese infrastructure projects and the sustainability of the debt accumulated by Pacific states to pay for them, the Australian Government’s decision to use the aid program to fund infrastructure is welcome and long overdue.

It is one clearly positive, although presumably unintended, outcome of China’s greater economic engagement in the Pacific.

Since the early 1990s at least, the Australian Government has sought to use aid as both stick and carrot to drive domestic governance reforms in Pacific island countries that often their own governments haven’t wanted. This intensified after the 2002 Bali bombings, when Australian policymakers came to see potential state “failure” in the Pacific as a security risk to Australia.

The Pacific has received high levels of Australian aid in the years since, and under the Coalition government, from 2013 onwards, has been the only region not to lose substantial amounts of Australian aid.

It is not surprising that Pacific leaders have had a difficult relationship with Australian aid.

Notably, although Australia spends enormous amounts on aid to the Pacific, only relatively little has been spent on building infrastructure. In the present aid budget, only around 20% is earmarked for infrastructure and trade facilitation, while almost 30% is dedicated to supporting “effective governance”.

The latter category essentially refers to money spent on often quite intrusive projects telling Pacific states how to govern themselves. And much of this is “boomerang aid” paid to Australian companies and consultants which ends up back home.

Although still relatively small, the portion of the aid budget dedicated to infrastructure and trade facilitation has actually increased by more than 50% from the 2014–15 budget, due largely to Australia’s recent decision to fund an underwater internet cable from Sydney to Solomon Islands. Prior to 2014–15, the infrastructure component was usually even smaller.

Yet even a short visit to most Pacific island countries reveals that dire infrastructure needs sit side by side with very large Australian aid programs. For example, Solomon Islands has received more than $3 billion in Australian aid since 2003, largely due to the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

But hardly any of RAMSI’s budget was used for infrastructure. The capital Honiara’s main drag, Mendana Avenue, now has worse potholes than a decade ago. It also has one of the world’s most expensive electricity markets, as supply is provided solely by diesel-powered stations.

Hence it is not surprising that Pacific leaders have had a difficult relationship with Australian aid. On the one hand, it is a vital source of income for relatively poor and often aid-dependent countries; on the other hand, it is quite intrusive and has few tangible benefits.

Chinese development financing, meanwhile, is heavily skewed towards funding infrastructure projects and typically does not involve intrusive governance prescriptions.

The availability of Chinese development financing has therefore provided Pacific leaders with a means of pushing back on the more intrusive aspects of Australian aid. For instance, PNG elites have often publicly compared Australian and Chinese development financing, recently telling Australian researchers that China’s “flexible” support was preferable to Australia’s “paternalistic” aid, notwithstanding some concerns regarding the potentially negative effects of Chinese engagement on PNG’s democratic institutions and corruption levels.

Fijian elites similarly alluded to the country’s deepening economic relationship with China to alleviate the Australian Government’s pressure for rapid democratisation following the 2006 coup.

It is therefore Pacific leaders, not Beijing, who have sought to portray China’s growing presence in the Pacific as representing a challenge to Australian dominance, and with considerable success.

The Australian Government has fully accepted the narrative of a Chinese strategic challenge, as reflected in official rhetoric and changes to its aid programme to better align it with the wishes of Pacific governments. Canberra’s concerns over growing Chinese influence in the Pacific in fact predate the current crisis in the bilateral relationship, as indicated by the government’s about-face towards Fiji, from exclusion to engagement, in 2013.

Indeed, Australia’s decision to fund the expensive underwater internet cable to Solomon Islands represents a significant shift from past practice, and was explicitly made to prevent the giant Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from winning the contract.

Closer inspection of Chinese projects in the Pacific would have revealed that they are usually driven from below by companies seeking commercial opportunities, with little coordination or apparent strategic intent. In fact, there is little evidence to show strategic design in the wider Belt and Road Initiative. But what counts is what Australian policymakers think is happening in the region.

Nonetheless, even if based on a shoddy assessment of the scale of China’s challenge to Australian dominance in the Pacific, funding infrastructure would be a much better use of Australia’s aid dollars than promoting “effective governance”.

To be sure, some infrastructure spending would still constitute “boomerang aid”, but at least something useful and tangible would remain.

Ideally, Australia should funnel additional resources to the Asian Development Bank or World Bank, which have an established record of building infrastructure. But given Canberra wants to be seen building infrastructure in the Pacific, this is unlikely.

Shahar Hameiri is Associate Professor of International Politics in the School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland.

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