Challenges to the United States in the South Pacific

Abstract

IMPORTANT CHANGES IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTH PACIFIC, including Australia and New Zealand, are challenging the old order and affecting the security of the United States and its allies in the region. The three most notable changes have been the recent impact of anti-nuclear sentiment, the trend toward greater self-reliant defence policies, and the penetration of external powers into the region. The anti-nuclear sentiment has recently resulted in the breakdown of the defence cooperation between the United States and its ally, New Zealand, and produced the world's third nuclearfree zone in the South Pacific. The trend toward greater self-reliant defence policies has put national and regional priorities ahead of traditional cooperation with the big power ally, the United States. It is evident in the new defence white papers and planned force structures of Australia, New Zealand, and the smaller island states. External powers such as Japan, the Soviet Union, and China have shown new political as well as economic interest in penetrating the South Pacific region, thus providing new alternatives for the small island states which have had numerous disputes with the United States recently. While the hegemony of the United States and its allies in the Central and South Pacific does not seem to be much diminished, it is clearly a region increasingly open to new influences which could affect the status of the American nuclear deterrent, the character of Western alliances, and regional security. It is also a region which, thus far, has not been an arena of military competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. In addition, it is one of the rare examples of a region outside Western Europe and North America where moderate democratic regimes are the norm. The latter conditions have also resulted in some new initiatives on nuclear policies which may eventually affect the rest of the world.