Insights EDITORIAL ANALYSIS : China growing footprint in the Pacific Islands

Source: The Indian Express

• Prelims: Current events of international importance(Pacific island countries, Regional forums, EEZ etc
• Mains GS Paper II: Significance of Indo-Pacific for India, Indo-Pacific Region,Free and open Indo-Pacific, International organizations.

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS

• Foreign Minister of China, is currently on visit to ten Pacific Island Countries(PICs), and has co-hosted with Fiji the Second China Pacific Island Countries.
• During the Foreign Ministers meeting, China’s effort to push through a comprehensive framework deal,the draft of which was leaked earlier, failed to gain consensus among the PICs.
• This has raised regional concerns about China’s growing footprint in the Pacific Islands, it has also been seen as a demonstration of China’s limitations in the region.
• China signed a controversial security deal with the Solomon Islands,which raised regional concerns.
• Two draft documents prepared by the Chinese side were leaked, and gained the attention of regional leaders in the Pacific as well as the larger international community.
• One of the documents is the “China Pacific Island Countries (PICs) Common Development Vision”, and the other is “China Pacific Islands Five Year Action Plan on Common Development (2022-2026)”.

INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE

Context

Pacific Island Countries(PICs):

• They are a cluster of 14 states which are located largely in the tropical zone of the Pacific Ocean between Asia, Australia and the Americas.
• They include Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Republicof Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands,Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
• The islands are divided on the basis of physical and human geography into three distinct parts —Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia.
• The islands are very small in land area, and are spread wide across the vast equatorial swathe of the Pacific Ocean.

Strategic Importance of PICs:

• Large EEZs translate into huge economic potential due to the possibility of utilizing the wealth of fisheries, energy,minerals and other marine resources present in such zones.
• These countries have played an important role in major power rivalry as springboards for power projection and laboratories for developing and demonstrating strategic capabilities.
• The Major powers of the colonial era competed with each other to gain control over these strategic territories.
• The Pacific islands also acted as one of the major theaters of conflict during the Second World War.
• Due to the remoteness of these islands from the Soviet Union and major population centres of the world, some of the major nuclear weapon test sites of the U.S, The U.K. and France were located here.
• The 14 PICs,are bound together by shared economic and security concerns, account for as many votes in the United Nations, and act as a potential vote bank for major powers to mobilize international opinion.

What China seeks to achieve from the PICs:

• The PICs are located geostrategically in what is referred to by China as its ‘Far Seas’, the control of which will make China an effective Blue Water capable Navy — an essential prerequisite for becoming a superpower.
• When the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue(QUAD) has emerged as a major force in the Indo-Pacific vis-à-vis China, the need to influence the PICs has become an even more pressing matter for China.
• The Taiwan factor plays a major role in China’s Pacific calculus. China, considers Taiwan to be a breakaway territory, is preparing for what seems like an inevitable military invasion. In this context, to break Western Domination of island chains of the Pacific which could impede reunification.
• China has been successful in getting diplomatic recognition from 10 out of the 14 PICs through its economic largesse.

Implications of China’s Latest move:

• The secrecy surrounding the China Pacific Island Countries (PICs) Common Development Vision” and“China Pacific Islands Five Year Action Plan on Common Development (2022-2026)”draft, and the haste with which it was discussed with the governments of the PICs during the meeting sent worrying signals across the Pacific.
• The PICs as a collective did not agree to China’s extensive and ambitious proposals and therefore China failed to get a consensus on the deal.
• The Prime Minister of FSM had sent a letter to all the PIC governments prior to the meeting, to consider China’s proposals with caution, as they could have negative implications for the sovereignty and unity of PICs and may drag them into major power conflicts in the future.
• The intensification of China’s diplomacy towards the Pacific Islands have made the powers who have traditionally controlled the regional dynamics like the U.S. and Australia more cautious.
• The U.S. has started revisiting its diplomatic priority for the region ever since the China-Solomon Islands deal.

significance of Indo-Pacific region for India:

• Strategic significance: The Indo-Pacific is a multipolar region that accounts for over half of global GDP and population.
• Mineral Resources: Maritime regions have also become important storage areas for essential resources such as fish stocks, minerals, and offshore oil and gas.
• Economic Growth: The Indo-Pacific area accounts for approximately 60% of world GDP, making it the most important contributor to global growth.
• Commerce: Many of the world’s most important choke points for global trade are located in this region, including the Straits of Malacca, which are crucial for global economic growth.

Quadrilateral Security Dialogue(QUAD):

• It is the informal strategic dialogue between India, USA, Japan and Australia with a shared objective to ensure and support a “free, open and prosperous” Indo-Pacific region.
• In November 2017, India, the US, Australia and Japan gave shape to the long-pending “Quad” Coalition to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence (especially China).
• In 2021, Quad countries issued a “Spirit of the Quad” joint statement promoting a free, open rules-border, rooted in international law to advance security and combat threats both in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
• 3C strategy of QUAD

Way Forward

• Indo Pacific is a strategic space which offers a number of challenges and opportunities for India and all other stakeholders.
• Appropriate diplomatic maneuvering and economic and military assertion is vital for the implementation of India’s interests in the region along with leveraging the space as a building block for a multipolar world order.
• India’s view is to work with other like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region to cooperatively manage a rules-based multipolar regional order and prevent any single power from dominating the region or its waterways.
• There needs to be support for Indo-Pacific governments, boost their capacity to make independent political choices by helping partners root out corruption, including through foreign-assistance and development policies.

QUESTION FOR PRACTICE

The PICs are located geostrategically in China’s“Far Seas”, the control of which will make China an effective Blue Water capable Navy. Critically analyze. (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)