US, UK, Australia, Japan & New Zealand launch 'informal' alliance to boost ties in Pacific

The United States, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom launched an informal alliance to boost economic and security ties with the Pacific island nations. In a joint statement published on Friday, all five nations said that the group, named Partners in the Blue Pacific (PBP) is made to increase the effectiveness of their ongoing efforts to support “prosperity, resilience, and security” in the region. They also noted that the alliance is formed to “support Pacific priorities more effectively and efficiently”.

The countries said in a joint statement, “This new initiative builds on our longstanding commitment to the region. Australia and New Zealand are of the region and members of the Pacific Islands Forum; Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States are founding Dialogue Partners. Our countries maintain close people-to-people ties to and are longstanding development partners with the Pacific Islands, reflected in our combined $2.1 billion in development assistance for the region. 

“We are united in our shared determination to support a region that benefits the peoples of the Pacific. We are also united in how we realize this vision—according to principles of Pacific regionalism, sovereignty, transparency, accountability, and most of all, led and guided by the Pacific Islands,” they added. 

US ramped up diplomacy in the Pacific after the China-Solomon pact

It is to note here that the US stepped up its diplomacy in the Pacific after China and Solomon Islands reached an agreement. The leaked draft of a Solomon Islands-China security agreement had irked Washington so much that it had dispatched a high-level delegation in late April to the Pacific island nation. At the time, the US had pledged that it would “intensify engagement in the region”. 

The China-Solomon Islands pact triggered concerns among the US and its allies that the agreement would potentially increase the Chinese military presence on the islands. From G7 to QUAD, the United States has pushed for a free and open Indo-Pacific region with an aim to keep China’s authoritative regime away from those waters, even though Beijing’s intention in Solomon remains unclear. 

Image: AP