Schatz Pushes Emphasis On Pacific For US-China Strategy
Hawaii’s congressional delegation has long pushed for a greater focus on the strategic importance of Pacific Island nations.
A new U.S. Senate bill laying out American foreign policy priorities as the U.S. and China compete for influence around the globe contains several provisions focusing on Pacific Island nations and communities.
Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, who sits on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, authored six provisions in the bipartisan聽Strategic Competition Act聽that emphasize the increasing strategic importance of the region.
鈥淲e have deep ties to the Oceania community grounded in our shared commitment to respecting human rights and the rule of law, protecting marine resources, and combating the global climate crisis,鈥 Schatz said in a press release Wednesday.
鈥淭his bill firms up our foreign policy commitment to Oceania by ensuring that we are aligning all the tools of U.S. diplomacy to strengthen people-to-people ties and support the economic needs and long-term resilience goals of our allies and partners in the region.鈥
The bill calls on the secretary of state to come up with a policy statement on the importance of the Oceania region to U.S. national interests and to craft a strategy聽for strengthening U.S. engagement with the countries of Oceania.
It notes that U.S. officials should work closely with Australia, New Zealand, and Japan “to address shared concerns and goals in pursuit of security and resiliency.”
Schatz also pushed for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the聽Peace Corps to expand operations across the Pacific Islands and called for the State Department to provide a report to Congress on the effects of overfishing on communities in Oceania.
The Chinese government of its expansive distant water fishing fleets, and the Chinese navy maintains a “” of military trained fishermen that it uses to and in the South China Sea.
China has been extending its influence across Oceania, competing with both the United States and Taiwan.
Last year the island nation of Kiribati — just south of Hawaii —聽 to establish infrastructure in support of Chinese political and economic interests. Kiribati is also the site of a mothballed satellite tracking system once run by China’s military-run space program and some .
Hawaii’s congressional delegation as well as delegates from America’s Pacific Island territories have been vocal about concerns that the U.S. has neglected its interests in Oceania聽and in 2019 Rep. Ed Case established the Pacific Islands Caucus.
Former President Donald Trump’s administration initially made deep cuts to U.S. programs in the region but in the later years ramped up attention on the Pacific Islands as China made gains in the region. In its last year,聽the administration made curbing unregulated fishing by Chinese vessels a priority and signed an agreement with Palau to establish a new military base in the former American territory.
