China’s strategic goals in the Pacific are emerging and Australia must be concerned, or alarmed!

It remains to be seen how the very pro-Beijing President of Kiribati would respond to such a proposal. But what is clear is that in just three years the small Pacific nation has succumbed to the heavy influence of Beijing. So such a highly suspicious project not only can't be ruled out it is highly likely to be approved if Beijing pursues it.

How can Australia respond to the strategic steps China is taking in our direct region of concern?

The answer is simple – we have to do a lot better than we have done so far!

Here is a summary of our development assistance for 2021-22 to our immediate region:

Papua New Guinea gets the lions share worth $587 million but its population of 8 million far exceeds the combined population of all the island nations of our region.

Samoa is allocate $40 million, the Solomon Islands $156 million, Fiji $81 million, Kiribati $40 million, and Tonga $35 million.

For the small island nations these are not insignificant amounts. They far exceed what other developed countries contribute including China which gives very few grants conveniently relying on loans regardless of the capacity of the recipients to repay them.

The Australian Government has to urgently determine how it can lead the response to China's growing influence, some would argue stranglehold, in our region. That response must include the United States, New Zealand, Japan and even Taiwan.

We need to encourage our allies to focus on China's real strategic objectives if they have not done so already. That includes being prepared to help out island nations wishing to get rid of the China debt burden they have unwisely signed up to in recent years.

And it also requires all nations to look at real economic assistance to the region which is struggling because of the Covid-19 virus impact on health services, communities and trade and tourism.

There is little point in statements expressing "concern". That has been the general DFAT practice. It is just not good enough.

The Peoples Republic of China has a clear strategy. It builds uneconomic infrastructure, such as ports and airports, in the knowledge it can just take them over if the counties it cajoles into signing up to loans to fund them default – as most in our region are on the brink of doing.