2025/01/01 by Powles, Anna
Social Sciences · #Island Studies and Pacific Affairs #Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies #Pacific defence security agreements #Peacebuilding and International Security #geopolitics
paper · doi:10.26021/16147
openalex publication_date 2025/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/11/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
Over the past three years, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji have entered into bilateral security and defence agreements with external partners that, in the case of Papua New Guinea and Fiji, implicitly oblige them to provide support to US forces in the event of military conflict in Asia. Elsewhere in the Pacific, the motivations behind such agreements (like the 2024 Australia–Tuvalu Falepili Union) are twofold: external partners are seeking to secure support from allies and partners in the Pacific as strategic competition intensifies; and Pacific countries view the agreements, several of which include security assistance, as an opportunity to enhance their national security capabilities. What is less clear, however, is how these agreements align with the foreign policy positions, such as non-alignment and “friends to all,” and national security interests of the Pacific signatories. This article presents preliminary research findings drawn from interviews in Papua New Guinea and Fiji with regional leaders and officials since late 2024. It argues that the growing entrenchment of security agreements is creating a strategic alignment dilemma for Pacific Island states, reshaping regional order from one based on collective neutrality to one of differentiated alignment.