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Australia, China & the Pacific Islands: An essay of a unique tussle through the
theoretical lens of international relations.

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 Variis Studiis: Vakadidike no. 7

Australia, China & the Pacific Islands.

An essay of a unique tussle through the theoretical lens of
international relations.

Rokoua Mataiciwa

Date & Time Competed: 01/10/2022 @10:25pm.

Δ21TեਆਰXVnO엠 25 X: Q
In recent years, the Pacific Islands Region has become the setting of a diplomatic tussle between
the Commonwealth of Australia and the People’s Republic of China as the former has over the
years, become apprehensive about the involvement of the latter in the region. This essay will
seek to assess this subject and in doing so, try so seek an explanation as to why Australia has
become sensitive and to some extent, feel somewhat threatened by the increasing presence China
has made in the Pacific Islands Region. The theories of international relations, namely realism,
liberalism and constructivism, will all be respectively used.

Before analysing Australia’s concern on China’s gradual rise in the Pacific Islands Regions is
made, there is a need to first understand how China got to this point. Kallgren (1979) states that
the People’s Republic of China was formed in 1949 by the communist forces of Mao Zedong.
Then from the 1950s to the 1970s, Mao held a firm grip on power over the country, possessing
near absolute political and economic control. However when he passed away in 1976, a new era
of change began to take hold over the nation. This was spearheaded by his successor Deng
Xiaoping who instituted reforms which included the relaxing of the state’s absolute control,
opening China up to the international markets and by that same process, providing significant
investments in technology, agriculture, science, education and national security (Keo, 2020).
Around the same time these reforms were taking place, the country was also expanding with its
demographical size. China’s population exploded to over 1 billion by 1982 and increasing further
to 1.2 billion people by 2000, making it the most populated country on earth (Peng, 2011). The
increase in its population, coupled with the various reform initiatives, helped transform China.
By the dawn of the 21st century, China had not only boasted to have one of the largest armies in
the world, but had also become the world’s second largest economy, the largest manufacturer of
goods and services and also the largest exporter (Loredana and Florentina, 2017; Zhang, 2015).
This economic power attained has also given them the means to assert their political influence.
One area of interest is the Pacific Island region, which consist of over 13 million people spread
across 14 states and though relations existed long before, China since 2006 began to make a
greater presence in terms of diplomatic relations, commercial activities and trade (Pryke, 2020).
These developments had an impact, to the point that it has become the cause for concern with the
regional power Australia and this will be explained in later sections.

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Given that an understanding of China’s developments has been made, an assessment of
Australia’s sensitive stance towards their progression can be discussed, through the lens of
international relations theories. The first theory that will be applied is the liberal theory. This
school of thought gained importance towards the later stage of the 20th century with the end of
the cold-war and the increased levels of interconnectedness between people and countries
(Norwich University, 2017). This theory holds to a number of elements about the functioning of
the wider wold. According to Meiser (2018), the viewpoint emphasises on an individual’s rights
to life and liberty and that on a state level, the concepts of democracy, economic
interdependency and multinational co-operation are seen as desirable elements. It has also
become apparent that a number of countries exemplify the liberal standpoint. One of them is
Australia as at a regional level, it is the dominant power, acting as a representative of the West
and a proponent of liberalism, promoting the values of democracy to the Pacific Island countries
and also playing an important role in the Pacific Islands Forum, which is a multinational
organization that incorporates most countries in the region (Pan and Clarke, 2022). However,
China’s increasing involvement in the Pacific Island region has become a threat towards that
position held by Australia. For one, Australian leaders feel that China expansion into the region
may weaken their strong relations with Pacific Island countries (Haq, 2021). One of the core
reasons of this concern is the active efforts made by Chinese leaders to formulate a regional
agreement that makes them a potential alternative to Australia. A recent instance of this was with
China’s proposed framework with 10 Pacific Island countries covering aspects of security,
policing and trade, however it was ultimately unsuccessful. (Perry, 2022; Dziedzic, 2022). This
recent move made be China faced significant opposition from Australia as they asserted that the
proposed arrangement would not only pose a threat to their regional standing, but upon doing so,
would also enable China to gain a foothold in the Pacific and disrupt western influence in the
region.

The second international relations theory that can be used on Australia’s sensitivity towards
China’s rise in the Pacific Island region is realism. This theory commonly holds the world to a
rather pessimistic and less rosy view. Antunes and Camisao (2018) along with Donnelly (2000)
both assert that the main actor is the state, there is no overarching authority which leaves
respective states to attend and protect their own interests and that the primary forms of power
that states use for the defence of their national interests is either through their economic power or

2
military power. Within the realist theory lies three schools of thought and they are known as the
human nature or classical approach, defensive realism and offensive realism and out of these
aforementioned three, the one of the applicable angles is the offensive realism approach. Toft
(2005) states that the offensive realist thought entails the notion that a state would try to compete
for power because of their aim to change the international political order and upon doing so, seek
to maximize their power and influence. Dominic, Johnson and Thayer (2016) added to this by
stating that states have mistrust against each other to due fears that one state may maximize
power in order to satisfy its self-interests. This aspect can be related to the way in which
Australia feels about China’s rising presence in the Pacific Island region. From their perspective,
they see that China’s increasing presence on Pacific Island countries is part of their efforts to
expand their influence, with the ultimate aim of becoming the major power of the region (Staats,
2022). This view held by the Australian leadership is also supported by a recent movement made
by the Chinese government in the region. One case is in the Solomon Islands, whereby its Prime
Minister Manasseh Sogavere announced that his government had reached a security deal with
Beijing, which according to the draft provisions in the document, would enable Chinese
authorities to potentially establish a military base in the country (Cave, 2022). Aside from this,
there are also a number of similar engagements China has made. These include the unsuccessful
attempt by a Solomon Island provincial administration to lease one of its islands to a Chinese
company closely linked to Beijing authorities, the construction of a wharf in Vanuatu which was
also rumoured to become a potential naval base, a scrapped proposal for another wharf in Samoa
and the numerous financial loans and aid provided to states around the region (O’Keefe, 2018;
Wroe, 2018; Tidwell, 2019; Rajah, Dayant and Pryke, 2019; Barrett, 2021). While on one end it
may be so that such actions may have other motives, from the Australian perspective the
proposed projects and financial initiatives are part of China’s expansionist efforts in the Pacific
Islands region with the aim to assert dominance over the area. This belief was alluded to by
Zhang (2014), who stated that the advances made by China can be viewed from an offensive
realist perspective as one may argue that it has become the goal of the Chinese leadership is to
place their country on the top of the global power hierarchy. Getting to that position according to
the Australian logic requires a move to assert dominance over the Pacific Island region by
engaging in tangible actions beyond just diplomacy, embodied through their economic power in
the form of the various loans and military power through the island lease and wharfs proposals

3
which may seem like the end goal of these development projects and this serves as a means of
concern for decision makers at Canberra.

Sticking to the theory of realism, there is another viewpoint that may explain Australia’s
sensitivity towards China’s rise in the Pacific Island region and this is from the defensive realist
position. This school of thought has a slightly different position compared the other views within
the realist theory. Feng and Ruizhuang (2006) states that a defensive realist would put forward
the view that while states try to compete for power due to the state of the international political
order, however their actions mainly occur with the intent of maintain a balance of power and to
also preserve their national interest and security. Ways in which countries would react from a
defensive realist theory would include the increase in military spending and other actions that
may help them in maintaining that power balance. As such this can be related to Australia’s
reaction to China’s advances in the Pacific Island region. The concern held by them is that
China’s rise and potential dominance may cause a power shift that may put the Australians in a
position where they are unable to compete with the Chinese and this has already eventuated on
the economic aspect with China’s GDP being four times larger than Australia (Morini, 2011;
White, 2011). In order to mitigate this, Australia has begun to work on the other aspect of power,
that being its military capabilities. As recently as March of 2022, the Australian government had
announced that it will increase the size of its defence force and upon doing so, also increase
military spending to over $587 billion in the next ten years in order to make Australia capable of
standing up to China with its movements around the Pacific Island region (Scott, 2022). This is
an interesting response taken by the Australian government and in this respect it can be said that
such actions were foreseen by a number of individuals. Studies by Dibb (2017), Wirth (2019)
and Perwita (2020) have respectively observed that the advances made by China would naturally
result in Australia perceiving it as a threat to their security and position and in response, they
would take steps to expand on their defence capabilities so that they can counter China’s
growing influence in the region and also protect their national and regional interests with Pacific
Island countries. This analysis has come into realization and is a defensive realist action,
considering that in response to what they perceive as a potential threat of a power shift made by
China in the Pacific Island region, they have taken active steps to increase spending on its
defence with the aim of preserving their national interests and security, and also by that same
process also ensure that China does not easily dominate the Pacific Island region. Another way

4
Australia has engaged in the defensive realism is through external balancing, which involves the
strengthening and reassurance of alliances and co-operation between countries of interest. In this
case, when China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a tour around the Pacific Islands, newly
elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sent his Foreign Minister Penny Wong to
conduct a counter tour around the region as well (NPR, 2022; Westcott, 2022). The aim of
Wong’s tour was to reaffirm Australian relations with Pacific Island countries against the
increasing presence made by China and this serves as an example of external balancing under the
defensive realist position.

The third theory that explains why Australia feels threatened by China’s increasing presence in
the Pacific Island region is the theory of constructivism. This idea, which stems from the social
science, offers an alternative view about how international relations work. In its essence, a
constructivist notes that states do create a particular sentiment about other states, resulting in
them being hostile to one group of states while at the same time, also be friendly to another
group of states (Theys, 2018). Much of what a state, or its leaders for that matter construct is
based on their interest and identity. Hopf (1998) referred to this by suggesting that how a state
identifies itself is a product of its interests and this prominently reflects at a regional level. When
relating this to Australia, it can be said that they do possess some constructivist view about their
position with Pacific Island countries. Successive Australian governments have constructed this
idea that the Pacific Island region is their backyard (Thorburn, 2007). This idea built by the
Australians is based on their interests and shared factors in the region. They include links on
investment, trade, tourism, as well as their close geography and even for a number of them, a
shared colonial history (Richmond, 2012; Hayward-Jones, 2015). Because of these elements, the
Australian government for many years have always felt that the Pacific Island region was their
zone and it is perhaps this sentiment that has also contributed to their sensitive reaction towards
China’s rise in the region. With the recent financial assistance and political diplomacy made by
Beijing to the various Pacific Island countries, the Australian government has felt somewhat
threatened by this and sees the move as an unwelcomed intrusion in to their territory (White,
2022). This would explain why Australia has been very sensitive about China and its movements
in the Pacific Island region as they have a constructivist vision about the region, which they feel
has been compromised by China’s presence.

5
In conclusion after looking through the context of Australia’s sensitive reaction towards the
gradual increasing presence of China in the Pacific Island region within the theoretical scope of
international relations, it can be found that such things area explainable from all three main
theories in their own right. From the viewpoint of liberalism, it can be seen that for a long period
of time, Australia has been the main proponent of promoting the values of liberal democracy to
the Pacific Island region with the use of regional organizations like the Pacific Islands forum and
other agreement frameworks serving as the means that maintains the connection between
Australia and its Pacific island neighbours. However, with the recent advancements by China
and the proposal of their own regional agreements, the Australian government sees this as an
active effort by Beijing to undermine their position. From a realist position, it can be seen that
Australia’s view of China’s rise in the Pacific Island region can be seen from two angles, one
from the offensive realist angle, where they see China as an entity with the intent of becoming
the dominant power in the region and seeking to affirm their power and influence over the region
and from a defensive angle, this advancement has the potential to cause a power shift and it has
left Australia with the option of trying to expand their military to maintain a power balance.
Finally from a constructivist view, Australia sees the Pacific Island region as its backyard and to
see China coming into the area is a threat that they must try to curb. Each of these views have
shown just how Australia sees China’s rise in the Pacific Island region and only time will tell
what are the true intentions and outcomes.

Word No. (2, 575 words).

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