A strategic concern is the growing influence of China in the Pacific regions. This has come closer to home with the recent deal China struck with the Cook Islands. However, with China being invited to a security forum where 14 Pacific nations and the Solomon Islands signed a security agreement with China, the issue has now become more pertinent to New Zealand’s security environment.
So the question has to be asked, why are the Pacific Islands dealing more with China than with New Zealand? The suggestions that are being offered by academics are to do with foreign aid and the opening up of trade. However, I believe it is something much deeper than that. The Pacific Islands are simply decreasing their dependence on the West. Historically, the Pacific region does not have a good memory of the West which colonised them, exploited their resources and attempted to take away their culture. In French Polynesia for instance, French is the official language despite the number of languages the natives speak.
However, it’s more likely that the values of China align with the Pacific. It is widely recognised that faith and tradition are important for the Pacific. Studies have consistently shown the importance of faith in Pacific culture and life, with the Pacific making up a majority of the churches in New Zealand. Perhaps this partly explains the slow reversal in the decline of religion in New Zealand. This is all part of the decolonisation efforts that have taken part. The West has consistently tried to push its woke secular values on the Pacific – even New Zealand, by appointing a rainbow ambassador and constantly preaching about climate change at the regular Pacific forums. China on the other hand is currently going through a spiritual reawakening by trying to revitalise Confucian values of faith and tradition: specifically the importance in China of family and the community. This is not that similar from the Pacific cultures, who prioritise family and the elders in contrast to the individualism of Western culture.
China is offering something different, such as their infrastructure projects through the Belt and Road Initiative to ‘help improve’ living standards. They signed a deal with the Solomon Islands to extract the copper, which would enable the Solomon Islands to industrialise and boost their economy – something that was consistently blocked by the West in the name of environmentalism.
The Pacific region has had enough and they wish to rebuild the great Pacific civilisation. We see this with the various projects to regain the ancient knowledge they once had. For instance, I know of an attempt to revive the lost art of Tokelauan wrestling known as Fagatua; the subject of a book by Ilai Elekana Manu. Another project involves the preservation of sea navigation techniques, with the oral histories of Pacific voyages being recorded in a book. There was also the project launched by the Atafu community to build two vaka (canoes), which they use to teach youth the sailing techniques.
The Pacific cultures are simply recognising the growing new international order that is emerging. As I explained in a previous article, the international order is changing. The old rules based liberal international order led by the US is changing towards a multipolar civilisational order being led by states like China. The post WWII liberal international order is in decline: a new order is rising and the Pacific is recognising this. They realise that the West is beginning to lose its place in the world and the islands might rebuild the great civilisation they once had. I predict we will see a new Pacific region in the near future: a Pacific civilisational sphere much greater than ever before.
