Venu Menon
Wellington, July 21,2024
Japan is a key stakeholder in ensuring the stability of the Pacific Islands region.
The 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM), hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, therefore, marks another significant milestone in Japan’s diplomatic engagement with the Pacific Islands nations.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters joined the leaders of the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, and Vanuatu at the conclave last week and agreed to forge a Joint Action Plan for Japan to “deliver its commitments to the region.”
While in Japan, Foreign Minister Peters held talks with Prime Minister Kishida, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, and Defence Minister Minoru Kihara.
In a wide-ranging speech, Peters spoke of shared values and the freedom for nations to “forge their own futures, in their own way.”
He articulated New Zealand’s statement of intent to “step up its diplomatic engagement, grow its development assistance, seek more collaboration opportunities with partners, and establish a credible path for our defence contributions to regional and international security.”
The overt reference to ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East made it clear Peters saw “global and regional security” as a basic premise for economic prosperity.
Peters took care to accord the Pacific Islands Forum countries their due importance, and sought to remain equidistant from the indigenous minority population and France in the internal strife playing out in New Caledonia.
The foreign minister catalogued Japan’s assistance to countries in the Pacific region including Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Tonga.
It is noteworthy that Peters made no mention of China’s presence in the Pacific region in his speech. The omission is telling. China is at the core of the security concerns of Japan as well as ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, United States) security treaty signatories Australia and New Zealand. Its manoeuvres in the South China Sea and security alliance with the Solomon Islands have skewed the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific region.
China is also the key determinant for Japan’s shift away from its post-World War Two pacifist constitution to an increase in its defence spending. Tokyo sees Beijing as a strategic challenge to Japan’s security. It is also wary of China’s growing proximity and strategic ties to Russia.
It is no accident that Japan views New Zealand as among a team of “like-minded countries” that face the dilemma of having China as a major trading partner who is also perceived as a regional security threat.
Both Japan and New Zealand have hawkish positions on China.
Japan’s National Security Strategy (NSS) views China as a “matter of serious concern for Japan,” while New Zealand’s 2021 defence review sees China’s rise as the “major driver of geopolitical change” and a concerted bid to “reshape the international system.”
Clearly, Japan-New Zealand relations are driven in no small measure by the common strategic imperative of containing China.
Venu Menon is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Wellington
