During hisrecent speech at the Solomon Islands National University, Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy said strategic competition [] is an unavoidable reality for our region.

July has already seen Solomon Islands Prime MinisterManasseh Sogavare visit China,French President Emmanuel Macron visitVanuatu, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia, andUnited States Secretary of State Antony Blinken visitTonga (Australia and New Zealand).

This follows visits by an array ofleadersand senior officials to the region over the past year. There have been severalhigh-level dialogues, including the historicUnited States-Pacific Island Country Summitin September 2022.

Reflecting its proximity and historic role, Australia has been at the forefront of this competition. Since launching its Pacific step-up in 2018, it has committed billions of dollars (on top of being thelargest donor), and instigated a raft of security, infrastructure and other activities.

But too often Australias initiatives have resembledwhack-a-mole reactions to Chinas activities. For example, the government funded Telstra to buy Digicel Pacific afterChina Mobile expressed interest. It also built theCoral Sea CableafterHuawei bid to lay it, and it re-developed theBlack Rock Peacekeeping and Humanitarian & Disaster Relief Campafter China indicated interest.Australias Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacificseeks to counter Chinas Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure lending, motivated by disputed claims about debt-trap diplomacy.

After a July visit to Solomon Islands, Defence Minister Richard Marles suggested that Australia is very keen to whack another mole: helping Solomon Islands to establish a military.

This followed Sogavaresigning a policing pactduring his visit to China. That pact built on abilateral security agreementsigned in April 2022 that several Australian commentators interpreted as paving the way for aChinese military base. However, theSolomon Islands government refutes this.

While it is the Solomon Islands governments sovereign right to establish a military, questions over its likely benefit should give Australia pause.Law and order are best guaranteed by police, and ultimately, by addressingsociopolitical challenges. This includesuneven development and underdevelopment.

Solomon Islands does not share a land border (a justification for Papua New Guinea having a defence force), and its maritime territory is already protected by a police maritime unitaided by the Australia-backed Pacific Maritime Security Programme. While the logistical capabilities of defence forces are useful for humanitarian and disaster relief, given challenges of funding and scale, the most efficient way to provide it would be throughdeveloping a regional capability.

Australia may be concerned that China will otherwise step in. But even if Australia does help, it wouldnt have the right to control a new Solomon Islands defence force. And while Australia provided substantial assistance to rebuild Solomon Islands police force duringRAMSI, that hasnt stopped China from developing its own relationship with that force, including throughproviding training and equipment.

There are also a few cautionary tales from elsewhere in the Pacific. The deployment of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) during the Bougainville conflict exemplified how a military can be used against a domestic population. And coups in Fiji demonstrate how the military can unseat a government. Australia had established the PNGDF during its colonial administration and had provided decades of support to the Fijian military.

Australia has legitimate strategic interestsin Solomon Islands and the Pacific more broadly. And it is right to be concerned about Chinas activism. But it needs to think carefully about how it responds.

In fact, there are alternative ways for Australia to improve its regional relationships that are far less costly and risky.

Australia makes it difficultfor Pacific people to come to Australia. It hosts temporary Pacific workers under thePacific Australia Labour Mobility(PALM) scheme, as well as Pacific students, many of whom arefunded by Australia Awards. But these programs often haveculturally, economically, and legally exclusionary consequences.

The Labor government is attempting to improve thePacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) schemeand enhance the experience of Pacific Australia Award students. Its establishment of thePacific Engagement Visathat will allocate 3,000 permanent migration places to Pacific peoples annually is welcome. But that scheme has been delayed, andquestions about its implementationremain unanswered.

It is time for Australia toimplement a visa-waiver programfor citizens of Pacific countries. While citizens of certain wealthy countries can apply in advance for free visitor visas (and New Zealand citizens can apply for one on arrival), citizens from Pacific countries are only eligible for expensive visas, which require extensive paperwork.

Thecontradictionbetween Australia describing the region as its Pacific family, yet making it difficult for Pacific peoples to visit, hasgenerated frustration in the region.

Indeed, most Pacific countries offer Australians the ability to obtain visitor/tourist visas on arrival. And Pacific leaders have longlobbiedfor avisa-waiverfrom Australia.

After all, if Australia genuinely sees itself as part of the Pacific family, why do we throw open our door to Europeans and Americans, but not to Pacific people?

A visa-waiver program could also be the precursor to Pacific people being offeredvisa-free entrysimilar to what we offer New Zealanders. That would be a genuine act of familycare and love. And something China cant beat.

First published in THE CONVERSATION August 1, 2023

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