The United States makes its way into the Pacific islands

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with the presidents of Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands, this Thursday in Washington. SARAH SILBIGER (REUTERS)

These are good times to be the leader of one of the small nation archipelagos in the South Pacific.

After decades of oblivion, in which Washington took its absolute influence in the area for granted, this strategic region has become one of the most courted squares on the world geopolitical board in which the United States and China dispute their rivalry.

This week, the White House has made a move: it has held its first summit with the leaders of those islands, has launched its first Strategy for the Pacific and has promised hundreds of millions of dollars for the area.

"The security of the United States, frankly, and of the entire world depends on your security and the security of the Pacific islands," emphasized the US president, Joe Biden, in his meeting at the White House with the leaders and representatives from fourteen of those nations on Thursday.

It has been two days - Wednesday and Thursday - of intense political flirtation in Washington.

The White House has brought out its best diplomatic artillery.

The visiting leaders have met with the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken;

with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

They have had lunch with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders.

Entrepreneurs from the tourism, clean energy, fishing, new technologies and transport sectors have presented projects to them.

This Thursday, the round culminated with a meeting with the president himself, Joe Biden, and a gala dinner at the White House.

And he has put, in black on white, his first strategy for the region.

A document that, according to senior officials who spoke to the press on condition of anonymity, will form part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy, the totem plan for Asia with which Washington wants to stand up to China's growing influence in the region.

Like the original initiative, the one proposed this Thursday also has Beijing very much in mind.

The new strategy will focus on areas such as the fight against climate change - "an existential threat" for these islands, according to one of the senior officials -, for which the United States will contribute 810 million dollars (an equivalent amount in euros). in the coming years and that will be added to the 1,500 that it has already disbursed over the last decade, according to data released by the US government.

Also in the economic recovery after the covid pandemic, the development, sustainability and protection of the fishing sector and cooperation in security matters, according to a White House fact sheet.

Among other things, the US Coast Guard will provide training and enhance the islands' capacity for marine protection.

The strategy "reflects our shared commitment to expand and deepen our cooperation in the years to come," the White House said in presenting its new proposal, which promises to make the South Pacific a priority of its foreign policy.

"The prosperity and security of the United States depend on the Pacific region remaining free and open."

That region, the document explains, faces enormous challenges, from climate change to difficult communications with the rest of the world.

And that include increasingly accentuated geopolitical tensions.

“Increasingly, those impacts include economic pressure and coercion from China, which threatens to undermine the peace, prosperity, and security of the region, and by extension, that of the United States,” the strategy states.

Beijing has turned a large part of its diplomatic efforts in the region, where it has sent senior diplomatic officials and has promised significant investments, security agreements and infrastructure construction.

The countries in this area had traditionally been diplomatic allies of Taiwan —and therefore had no formal ties with Beijing— until, after the victory of President Tsai Ing Wen in 2016, the Xi Jinping government began to courting Taipei's partners to break ties with the self-ruled island and engage with China.

The Solomon Islands took that step in 2019.

For the Chinese government, a good relationship with these islands is essential.

Its strategic position opens, or closes, the passage to key Pacific routes.

And they are in the middle of the zone of influence of Aukus, the military alliance for the Pacific that the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom announced a year ago.

In April, Beijing caused a strong shock in the United States and Australia - the great regional power - by signing a collaboration pact with the small, but very strategic, Solomon Islands, with 687,000 inhabitants.

The pact included provisions on trade and fishing, but also - and this is what set off the alarms in Washington and Canberra - on security, by allowing the sending of Chinese security forces if the local government requested it to maintain social order, protect lives and private property.

In addition, ships of the People's Liberation Army will be able to carry out visits and complete "logistical spare parts" in the waters of that country.

Since then, the strategic duel between Washington and Beijing in the area has multiplied.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was completing a tour of the islands, although he was unable to get a joint statement with his leaders in a regional forum.

Australia sent its Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, to promise more assistance and more attention to these nations, to the regret of some of the island's leaders, who insist that they do not want to see themselves in the midst of that giant struggle that is that of the two great powers for world influence.

Assistant Secretary of State for Asia Kurt Campbell also joined the cast of foreign dignitaries to travel to the islands.

Precisely, among the commitments announced this Thursday, the United States plans to include the Solomon Islands in an FBI program for the training of local police starting this year.

It will also expand the presence of US Peace Corps volunteers in nations such as Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu.

It had previously announced the opening of embassies in Kiribati, Tonga and the Solomon Islands themselves.

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