The New Pacific Diplomacy

Fry, Greg; Tarte, Sandra

doi:10.26530/oapen_603144

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…During the past decade, climate change concerns in Kiribati have been inserted into a wider discursive shift around a Pacific blue economy, meaning seaward focused resource developments, as promoted by regional ocean governance strategies and leaders' statements [70][71][72]. In 2009, the Framework for a Pacific Oceanscape was developed under Tong's stewardship, which fuses environmental sustainability discourse with ocean governance and resource development ambitions.…”

Section: Non-renewable Resources For Renewable Energiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

From sea-level rise to seabed grabbing: The political economy of climate change in Kiribati

Mallin

2018

Marine Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper presents a critical political economy perspective on recent and ongoing developments in the Pacific atoll country of Kiribati, where the issue of rising sea levels has become an incrementally politicised concern. Semi-structured interviews (n=30) with decision-makers, policy advisors, scholars, and community elders were conducted in multiple sites to scrutinise the politics that frame the country's environmental predicament. Findings indicate that: (1) irrespective of considerable scientific uncertainties and data inconsistencies, previous governments have fervently abided by a 'sinking nation paradigm', unreasonably constraining political visions of the nation's future; (2) consequentially, 'adaptation' has become a metaphor for economic development conceptions, which are tied to mounting budgetary requirements; (3) climate aid is sought for adaptation initiatives irrespective of the needs and desires of island communities; (4) incentives to develop a blue-green economy have facilitated the emergence of highly problematic deep-sea minerals (DSM) initiatives, which this study regards as precursors to seabed grabbing. The paper, therefore, posits that marine policy makers in Kiribati -and other small-island developing states (SIDS) -need to be more vigilant to wider political economic agendas when considering options for ocean and coastal governance. Researchers and practitioners have an important role to play in this regard by privileging preferences and perceptions from coastal communities, to ensure well-informed policy decisions in times of ecological uncertainty.

show abstract

Section: Non-renewable Resources For Renewable Energiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

From sea-level rise to seabed grabbing: The political economy of climate change in Kiribati

Mallin

2018

Marine Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While critical scholars such as Hau'ofa (1994), Teaiwa (2021), Slatter and Underhill‐Sem (2009), and Fry (2019) have long contested these matters, recent global shifts, including the rise of China and other non‐Western actors and the climate emergency, have sparked a fresh round of contestation. Over the last decade, many insights have homed in on what Fry and Tarte (2015) call the “New Pacific Diplomacy” and the reframing of the Pacific as a powerful site of sovereignty through the Blue Pacific Narrative (as discussed by Fry, 2019; Kabutaulaka, 2021; Wallis, 2021). Our insights attest to the growing presence of Pacific voices both challenging foreign aid (Guttenbeil‐Likiliki, 2022; Kami, 2018; Nailatikau, 2023) and articulating Pacific perspectives and framing (Aqorau, 2022; Ratuva, 2021; Waqavakatoga, 2023) in think tanks, conferences, and forums.…”

Section: The Shifting Nature Of Aid To the Pacific: Politicized Priva...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Aid is not development: The true character of Pacific aid

Taylor,

Middleby

2023

Development Policy Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

MotivationYou need not look far to read stories extolling the virtues, promises, and achievements of aid to the Pacific, but such stories are far from lived experience or empirical reality. There are other often silenced stories, stories that need to be heard. They speak of broken promises and obfuscation, oppressive bureaucratic conditions, and private contractors competing for profit off the back of the Pacific's poor and vulnerable people.PurposeThis article seeks to uncover something of the true character of aid, how it has changed (over the past decade) and how donors, their intermediaries, and Pacific recipients have responded.Methods and approachWe use our ethnographic and auto‐ethnographic insights to explore repressed stories; insights drawn from seven decades of collective experiences and observations of Australian aid, Australia being the region's largest and most significant donor.FindingsWe see three clear shifts in Australian aid over the last decade: (1) aid has become more politicized, deployed to support Australian interests; (2) aid has been increasingly privatized as much of the aid has been spent through four large Australian and international corporations—with local Pacific companies marginalized; and (3) aid has been increasingly contested by the peoples of the Pacific.Such changes have encouraged donors to tighten their grip on power. They have encouraged intermediaries to act as their agents, performing high levels of “interpretive labour.” They compete for donor custom and favour.Recipients of aid have been left with few options: they can comply with donors, thanking them for their generosity. They may resent the way they have been stripped of agency, perhaps looking to China for a different relationship.Aid of this character is not development. Rather, it is an unchecked donor‐driven system, beset by excessive power and control to benefit the system and its agents. Such aid may result in some success, but it systematically fails to empower Pacific agency and to reduce aid dependency.Policy implicationsA magnitude of change is required. We recommend more space for reflection on the lived experience of aid and on those generative, transformative initiatives occurring outside the aid system.We urge recipients of aid to take responsibility for development; to demand reform to see platitudes around listening, respect, and partnership become something more than words on a page; to ensure aid invests in long‐term development aligned to Pacific plans and priorities on Pacific terms—or to reject aid outright.

show abstract

“…The possibility of envisioning an alternative direction for the Pacific is a recent development, as significant changes in leadership approaches to external influences in the region have occurred in recent years (Wesley- Smith, 2021, p. 71). This has prompted Fry and Tarte to describe a "new Pacific diplomacy" that goes beyond the diplomatic ramifications of increased Chinese presence and influence but recognizes their significance in a series of extraordinary circumstances in Asia-Pacific history that have brought new media attention to the region (Fry & Tarte, 2016). While the narrative framing the Pacific as a territory to be won or lost by competing external powers has drawn attention to China as a primary competitor, this view is not necessarily alarmist.…”

Section: "China Threat": Epistemic Framing and Decolonial Critiquementioning

confidence: 99%

“I’m Sorry, but That’s Bribery”: A Decolonial Perspective From Which to Study Moral Economies in the ‘Chinese Pacific’

Maggio

2023

Island Studies Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“I’m sorry, but that’s bribery,” said reporter Tom Steinfort to Vanuatu Minister of Foreign Affairs Ralph John Regenvanu regarding the supposed support of the island state to China in United Nations resolutions, hypothetically framed as reciprocation for an unprecedented influx of foreign capital. This conceptualization of bribery rests upon recent value negotiations concerning the moral economy of corruption within the context of the ‘China threat’ debate in Oceania. A decolonial methodology is necessary to prevent this superimposition of colonial interests upon indigenous views in journalistic reports, social media outlets, and academic publications. It is, therefore, necessary to interrogate the position from which reporters, journalists, and scholars speak or write about corruption in diplomatic relations in an increasingly Sinicized Pacific. This approach appreciates localized forms of theorizing indigenous ideas about appropriate economic behaviors in the context of new geopolitical relations. In the absence of a decolonial methodology, such ideas might become invisible, along with the intrinsic features of new Sino-Pacific relations.

show abstract

The New Pacific Diplomacy

Cited by 16 publications

References 5 publications

From sea-level rise to seabed grabbing: The political economy of climate change in Kiribati

From sea-level rise to seabed grabbing: The political economy of climate change in Kiribati

Aid is not development: The true character of Pacific aid

“I’m Sorry, but That’s Bribery”: A Decolonial Perspective From Which to Study Moral Economies in the ‘Chinese Pacific’

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About