New Pacific Agreement Proposal Designed to Defeat Beijing’s Unlimited War

Democracies are proposing a new Pacific-wide agreement to strengthen cooperation and development efforts in the region to build Beijing’s influence and fight hybrid warfare operations.

“Blue Pacific Partners” will involve the United States, Australia, France, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to provide “closer, more purposeful and more ambitious cooperation”.

“Too often, our efforts have not been coordinated, in some cases there are overlaps and in other cases there are gaps.” Concept note About the agreement.Partnership Assigned According to US Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell at the Center for Strategic and International Studies conference held on June 23.

The program strengthens the Pacific Islands Forum, facilitates regular engagement and dialogue between partners, maps existing projects, coordinates future projects, and avoids “lost opportunities”.

Blue Pacific partner development is in close consultation with Pacific leaders, targeting areas such as climate change, ocean security (China’s illegal fishing fleet), health, education and providing better access to infrastructure. is.

Work together to deal with the “gray zone”

South Pacific expert Cleo Pascal called for better coordination and democracies to leverage each other’s strengths to combat Beijing’s unlimited or gray zone wars in the region.

“Each of the quads [Australia, India, Japan, and the United States] Members have their own achievements and the ability to contribute, “she writes. Australian newspaper With Anthony Bergin of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“France [also] A major player in the Pacific Ocean with approximately 3,000 defense personnel in the region. For that reason alone, we need to get the relationship back on track. “

The South Pacific has become a hotbed of geopolitical competition as the Chinese Communist Party seeks to gain influence over the Pacific leaders in the region.

China’s recent visits to eight countries in the region by Foreign Minister Wang Yi underscore this trend, and the minister has signed a new bilateral agreement to strengthen cooperation.

Pascal warned that Beijing’s growing influence also weakened the democracy system and led to a gradual rise in authoritarianism.

“These weapons are used to undermine the target nation from the inside, fragment and confuse the target nation, and make it intolerable to the effects of China,” Pascal previously told The Epoch Times. rice field.

“The process of creating instability and fragmentation can be described as creating a state of” entropy “of political, social and economic entropy, where things begin to collapse. And in that turmoil, China can create a new order around itself and its agents. “

Democratic system that is collapsing

An important example is the signing of a security agreement between Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manase Sogavale and Beijing, which could pave the way for the PLA Navy to station troops, weapons and naval vessels in the region. I have.

Sogavale’s Prime Minister was not without controversy. According to one report, 39 of the 50 Pro-Beijing parliamentarians were paid by the National Development Fund, which operates in collaboration with the Chinese embassy.

Opposition leader Matthew Wale said the prime minister did not provide basic services, over-concentrated power, used the country’s timber industry for the benefit of a few logging companies, and lined up his own pockets. Blame.

At the end of last year, local anger exploded, protesting against Prime Minister Sogavare in the capital Honiara, killing three people and destroying the Chinatown district.

“You start to feel this distortion in society, which creates a huge amount of social anger. If you have a democratic background, I think it’s a bad thing,” Pascal said. .. “But if you accept this premise that the entropy war is the desired result from Beijing, you will really want to cause turmoil in society.”

follow

Daniel Y. Teng is based in Sydney. He focuses on national politics, including federal politics, COVID-19 response, and relations between Australia and China. Do you have a hint? Contact him at [email protected].