The Pacific Islands Embassies Act has been included as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, and has now become law, pushing for a stronger American presence in the Pacific island region where China is striving to expand its influence.
The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate by a group of bipartisan lawmakers.
Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) were sponsors of the bill in the Senate. It was supported by Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).
Reps. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) and Ed Case (D-Hawaii) sponsored a companion bill in the House.
Significance of Pacific Islands
The Pacific island region spans 15 percent of the world’s surface area and controls critical routes, including supply lines to U.S. forward-deployed forces in East Asia, sea lanes to the Western Hemisphere, and economically important fisheries.The Pacific island region is home to 11 U.S. territories, the state of Hawaii, Andersen Air Force Base, and Naval Base Guam.
China is seeking to increase influence in the region through security agreements with the Solomon Islands and infrastructure development under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Chinese Influence
A Sept. 20 report by the United States Institute of Peace points out that though Chinese officials have not publicly stated that the Pacific islands are a key area of interest for Beijing, the area is very important for the Asian nation.The region offers a “low-investment, high-reward” opportunity for the Chinese regime to score strategic, tactical, and symbolic victories as it pushes ahead with its global agenda.
Pacific nations have received low levels of engagement from powers like the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, which some consider a strategic neglect.
This has “created a geostrategic void that China has sought to fill using the playbook it has honed elsewhere in the world: foreign assistance, private-sector investment and loans, sustained and high-level diplomacy, and in some cases tools of elite capture such as corruption and economic coercion,” the report stated.
Though China’s growing influence in the Pacific islands is not cause for alarm, it should be “viewed with concern,” the report states.