USIP’s Brian Harding explains why the Pacific Islands region has become a strategic area of focus for the United States, how the U.S.-New Zealand relationship has evolved and why Australia is such a critical partner in Washington’s Indo-Pacific policy.

Why has the Pacific Islands region become so strategically vital?

The 14 independent countries of the Pacific Islands region plus territories controlled by outside powers, including the United States, are increasingly central to geopolitics. This week Blinken will visit Tonga and Austin will visit Papua New Guinea, stops nearly unthinkable until recently.

China’s intensive efforts to engage the region have awakened American interest and caused Australia and New Zealand to expand and recalibrate their own long-standing and intensive relations with the region. This attention is long overdue; the exclusive economic zones of these countries span vast expanses of the earth’s surface and connect the United States with some of its most important partners on the other side of the Pacific Rim.

Pacific Island countries welcome this newfound attention but are wary of the potential destabilizing downsides of being caught in the middle of competition between major powers. Most importantly, they want the United States and other outside powers to focus on the issues that concern them most, which nearly all relate to climate change. They also are clear that they do not want there to be a “militarization” of the Pacific, something Chinese propaganda has seized on, despite China’s own efforts in Solomon Islands.

How has that been reflected in U.S. policy in recent years?

The United States has sought to make up for lost time, outlining a robust strategy for the region and putting resources into place. Much of the strategy is about getting the basics right, such as establishing new embassies in four countries — Solomon Islands, Tonga, Kiribati and Vanuatu — and relocating the region’s USAID mission from the Philippines to Fiji. In Tonga, Blinken will highlight the new embassy and make the case that the United States is following through on commitments it has made.

While the diplomatic infrastructure is welcomed, the region will be seeking updates on other commitments such as the return of the Peace Corps to four Pacific Islands countries, a program that is extremely popular in the region. Leaders will also be asking about the outlook in Congress for funding for the South Pacific Tuna Treaty and initiatives to reduce U.S. carbon emissions.

In Papua New Guinea, Austin’s visit, the first by a U.S. secretary of defense, will continue to deepen an increasingly close and institutionalized relationship with the Pacific Islands region’s largest country. In May 2023, Blinken visited Papua New Guinea in place of President Biden and signed a defense cooperation agreement that will enable closer military-military cooperation including the potential of U.S. access to mutually agreed facilities. In his visit, Austin will need to strike a balance between accelerating these nascent defense ties and ensuring U.S. defense activities are aligned with the role the broader Pacific Islands region would like to see the U.S. play.

How has the U.S.-New Zealand relationship evolved in recent decades?

New Zealand has long been an important, like-minded partner of the United States. In the wake of World War II, the 1951 Australia-New Zealand-United States Security Treaty (ANZUS Treaty) bound the three countries in a trilateral pact that still forms the basis for the U.S.-Australia alliance and the Australia-New Zealand alliance. However, the U.S.-New Zealand leg of the triangle ruptured in the mid-1980s when New Zealand introduced nuclear-free legislation, creating insurmountable obstacles to U.S. naval visits. Concerned that other U.S. allies such as Spain and Japan would introduce similar nuclear measures, the United States suspended its obligations to New Zealand under ANZUS and the relationship entered a deep freeze. Nevertheless, close ties between U.S. and New Zealand intelligence services continued under the Five Eyes alliance, in which the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom share signals intelligence.

U.S.-New Zealand relations began to warm after 9/11 and New Zealand’s early participation in the war in Afghanistan but it took until 2008 for the first bilateral visit by a U.S. secretary of state to New Zealand since the rift in relations. Relations truly began to transform following a review of U.S. policy early in the Obama administration, resulting in the Wellington Declaration, which put the relationship on a course of normalization minus the former treaty obligations. Blinken’s visit to New Zealand and the lack of bilateral challenges demonstrates how far the bilateral relationship has come.

As the Pacific Islands region rises in importance, so too does the U.S.-New Zealand partnership in the region, where the New Zealand enjoys considerable goodwill and influence.

What role does Australia play in the United States Indo-Pacific policy?

Australia has long been among the United States’ closest allies and a partner on nearly every major issue important to the United States. As the United States focuses more and more attention on the Indo-Pacific, where Australia is a pivotal power, the relationship is becoming even more central to U.S. foreign policy.

Blinken and Austin will meet with their Australian counterparts in Brisbane, Australia for the annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN). That AUSMIN takes place nearly every year, with very few exceptions, is testament to the importance the two sides place on the relationship, despite the challenge of coordinating the schedules of these top cabinet officials. If one were to be a fly on the wall, they would hear a wide-ranging and remarkably candid discussion of the most consequential issues facing the world, from China to Ukraine to artificial intelligence.

Beyond coordinating policy on key issues, AUSMIN is an important venue for driving cooperation on defense technology. Australia has long been one of the United States’ key partners on sensitive technologies, an area that is now accelerating rapidly under AUKUS, the trilateral security partnership with the United Kingdom. This year’s AUSMIN will also focus on climate and clean energy, areas that have new potential for collaboration due to the climate and energy policies of the current U.S. and Australian administrations.