By James O’Neill*
Earlier this month Fairfax media ran a story as a major exclusive, claiming that China was negotiating with Vanuatu to establish a naval base at the Vanuatu Port of Luganville. The story was unsourced. That in itself raised a serious question about the bona fides of whoever fed the story to the Fairfax journalist.
That suspicion grew when both the Prime Minister of Vanuatu Charlot Salwai and the foreign minister Ralph Regenvanu both categorically denied the story. The Chinese government similarly issued a denial that there were not any such negotiations going on.
That did not stop both Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop making pronouncements that the militarization of the Pacific was unacceptable. According to an ABC report (10 April 2018) Turnbull “warned” Vanuatu against any moves to allow a great Chinese military presence in the Pacific nation. “We would view with great concern the establishment of any foreign military bases in those Pacific islands countries and neighbours of ours” he was reported as saying.
Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong was quoted as saying “militarization and competition in the region is not something that is conducive to the stable and prosperous region that we want.”
This follows an allegation by international development Minister Concetta Ferravanti-Wells in January 2018 that China was funding “useless infrastructure projects”. She accused China of funding “roads to nowhere” and “useless buildings.” Ferravanti Wells’ comments were made against a backdrop of $11 billion of foreign aid cuts since the Coalition came to power in 2013.
The Australian government is reported to be concerned that the Chinese are using “soft” loans to create a debt trap for poor Pacific Island nations that will lead then to supporting Beijing’s stance on wider geopolitical issues.
When one looks at the facts however, a rather different picture emerges.
First, the question of “soft loans.” It is correct that’s the interest rate charged on Chinese sourced loans is lower than that by non-Chinese banks and institutions such as the IMF. If there is a “debt trap” it has risen more frequently and more drastically from IMF loans then it ever has from China.
Secondly, is Chinese influence through the financing of aid projects in the Pacific actually so great? According to an analysis published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco by Sam Creehan (www.frbsf.org 12 October 2017) China’s Development Bank ranked number 10 in the Asia-Pacific region and the Bank of China ranked number 13 as the source of infrastructure funding. Japan’s three largest banks by comparison funded five times the amount of the five biggest Chinese banks in that year.
We do not hear a word of criticism of this latest version of the greater East Asian co-prosperity sphere, presumably because Japan is treated as an ally. It is also one of the so-called “Quad” nations (along with Australia, India and the United States) that has been disinterred this year in what is plainly a variation on Obama’s “pivot to Asia”, also known as the China “containment” policy.
Thirdly, what exactly do Turnbull, Bishop and Wong mean when they decry the “establishment of foreign military bases in the Pacific?” Presumably they have some notion of “foreign” that excludes the United States. Turnbull has to look no further then his own backyard. According to at least one study (www.ant-bases.org) there are 34 US military facilities in Australia alone. The better known ones include Pine Gap (NT), Darwin (NT) Geraldton (WA) Stirling (WA) and Shoalwater Bay (Qld.)
In addition the United States has other Asia-Pacific military bases, notably in American Samoa, Guam, South Korea and Japan.
Its nuclear armed vessels patrol such geopolitically sensitive areas is the East and South China Seas, the Malacca Straits (with Australian warships in Operation Talisman Sabre) and elsewhere. How is it that a non-existent Chinese base in Vanuatu is a threat to the peace and stability of the Pacific, but the military actions of Australia and its allies in waters regarded as legitimate areas of national interest by China is not a provocation and a threat?
The answer probably lies in the presumptions Australia brings to its region and its neighbours. Turnbull has no right to “warn” Vanuatu’s prime minister about what Vanuatu as a sovereign nation may or may not do in what it perceives as its national interest.
Vanuatu was the subject of similar ill-informed criticism in the 1980s when Father Walter Lini was seen as threatening to turn Vanuatu into another Cuba because he had the temerity to join with New Zealand’s David Lange in seeking a nuclear free Pacific.
The Pacific countries face significant infrastructure challenges as the Asian Development Bank pointed out last year (www.adb.org 12 April 2017). Their populations are small and often isolated. Only 30% of their populations have access to electricity. Of 700 airstrips in the Pacific region, only 7% are paved. There are marked disparities between rural and urban dwellers in their access to the most basic facilities such as clean water and sanitation.
They are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change with salination of arable land an increasing problem.
When rich countries like Australia cut their foreign aid budgets the consequences for small and poor Pacific island nations can be devastating. They are also subject to bullying, as for example with the Solomon Islands over their wish to let a contract to China’s Huawei Corporation to build their Internet infrastructure. That infrastructure will now be built by Australia. If the NBN project is any guide, the Solomon Islanders will end up with an overpriced and inferior product. It is hardly surprising that the leaders of small nations would turn to China, which has demonstrated an entirely different model of development assistance.
The neo-colonial mentality displayed by Australia in this latest China bashing episode is out of place in the 21st century. It is long past the time when Australia’s political leaders recognised the new realities.
* Barrister at Law and geopolitical analyst
James, are you saying that China is Mr Nice Guy, Abroad?
If so, that may be an all-time first. I can’t think, historically, of any Mr Nice Guy, Abroad.
The biggest mistake is the idea that China is a nation.
And the biggest threat to Aus posed by the inhabitants of said region is a prospective influx of refugees
Dear Berry,
Of course I agree with you that China is not a nation, and Oz is not a nation either. There can only be a nation where the leadership is somewhat in synch with the people.
As Gumshoe often points put, Canberra is working for someone outside Australia. Most Gumshoers think Canberra is working for the US. I say No. The “US” that apparently dictates to Oz is not a nation of American people. It is a mere conduit for the hidden World Government.
I realize I may be wrong and stand to be corrected.
Nelson Rockefeller basically clobbered Latin America. Was that a case of the United States being Mr Nasty Guy, Abroad?
Mostly I feel that the Americans would not have put up with that clobbering of Latin America “if only they knew it was happening.” And yet, it is possible that they would quietly have put up with it by calculating that it in someway benefitted them. (It did benefit them by the low price of coffee beans.)
In comments to our two articles re Anzac, there was some dispute as to whether the nation should celebrate war-related unity. I think we should celebrate unity. It’s absolutely necessary for modern people to find community.
No man is an island. Never will be. We need one another. But the community has to be semi-local; it can never be universal — that is a pipe dream. We are built to live in groups. The feeling of “us and them” will never cease.
To reclaim a “nation,” start by getting rid of governments that run the nation for some purpose other than their own people.
It’s all so friggin’ upside-down, so queer, so hard to get a handle on!
Malcolm, Julie, “the late” Andrew Robb and “the late” George Brandis need to be identified as traitors.
Congratulations to Gumshoe (including James) for seeing this.
Australians could get together right now and say No to the proposed Melville Bay militarization of the Pacific which, as Tony Ryan told us, will dislocate many indigenous residents of that area.
Come on, Aussies. Be a nation. Demand that Canberra stop working for World Government.
(P.S. Dear Americans, please do the same.)
“Traitor.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition:
1 : a person who is not loyal or true to a friend, duty, cause, or belief or is false to a personal duty.
2 : a person who betrays his or her country : a person who commits treason.
Since tomorrow, April 28 is the anniversary of Port Arthur massacre (yes 22 years) I think I’ll throw more names into my list.
Ray Groom, premier of Tasmania
William Cox, justice of the Tasmanian Supreme Court
They qualify under both 1 and 2.
I will not list Damian Bugg under #1 as he was not false to his duty. He was faithful to his duty as DPP, if I understand correctly that a DPP has no duty toward the nation or the people.
By definition, all DPP’s work for a hidden entity.
James, I apologize for detouring from the China discussion. We can save the PA talk for tomorrow. Mal Hughes has produced a smashing article.
Mary,
I doubt if there are any nice governments anywhere. However, there is currently a war going on with the old empire and the new. To me, the Chinese are fighting this war using trade whereas the US and their mates are fighting this war using old fashioned guns and bullets. I know which one I prefer.
I keep hearing Australia is a wealthy nation, yesterday I heard our national debt is halt a trillion dollars, considering many Australians such as teachers are stressed with overwork, the healthh of Australians and dehydrated food so many are on the downhill of health, also most Australians as far as I know having no particular direction other than consumption, the output of jargon from our politicians is mainly thought up by lobby groups and institutes to confound the Australian public mind, for the purpose of those in power to stay in power, the erosion of Australia resources for overseas interests is now well entrenched, their is no chance of Australia ever gaining sovereignty,the country is as a basic definition on death row, the advantage of being on death row in America is you know it, whereas in Australia the vast population have no idea they are betrayed, the consolation Australians have is to have non organic poison put into their skin in a variety of patterns, to comfort them? I love Mommy?
Don, I was with you down to the I love Mommy.
Please explain.
Don,
In the coming years the govt. plans to spend $200 billion (repeat, BILLION) on “defence” (warships, submarines, F-35 fighter bombers, etc.). Add to that the proposed $64 billion in corporate tax cuts (to remain “international competitive”). Clearly, the pain is set to escalate — in the areas of health, education, welfare, infrastructure, (overt and covert) taxes/levies, etc.
Well may we say . . . Oi!!! Oi!!! Oi!!!
MORE Western worries about China. After 300+ years of subservience, do they STILL not know that they are NOT permitted to rise to the level of rivals (equals)???
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-25/top-us-admiral-warns-china-now-controls-south-china-sea
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-25/chinas-newest-aircraft-carrier-set-sea-trials
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-24/china-prepares-mass-produce-hypersonic-vehicles
Turnbull and Julie trying to act as Statespersons is downright embarrissing .
Yeah, embarrassing, but psychopaths don’t care if they are found out, they just create another lie and feel NO embarrassment. And the morons in society keep buying into their BS – so WHO should be embarrassed?
Communism is globalism . It has been brought in via the back door , unannounced but now in our faces . Yes , all our leaders are traitors , minions for freemasonry .
It has all been implemented by blueprint , when the fat cats shut down all manufacturing industries here in the “western” nations , starting around thirty years ago . They moved all production to the “people’s republic” . The slave labour abused in these co-operatives was the beginning of our decline . The 100 million members of the CCP have become the richest people on the planet !
The only industry we have left in Oz is sending young girls and boys to fight as mercenaries for bankers wars where required . While we were watching the idiot box , the CCP have bought all the desirable places on the globe . Freemasonry and communism are brothers and sisters .
The only faith that has been opposed to this oppression is the Catholic Church and the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ .
Peace good friends .
and yes , Port Arthur like 911 all done by plan .
Agreed that it was looking pretty grim for a while But I’m convinced that since the 8th Nov.2016, we now have a Light at the end of the tunnel.
And since the end of Oct, 2017 that light has started to “show it’s teeth”. Latest post. #1294.
https://qanonposts.com/