ABSTRACT

The Australian government demonstrates strategic anxiety about the ‘crowded and complex’ geopolitics of the Pacific Islands region. This reflects its broader concerns about geostrategic competition in the ‘Indo-Pacific’, and its perception that Pacific states are ‘small’ and ‘weak’ and therefore vulnerable to influence from potentially hostile powers. Simultaneously, the government has vowed to ‘step-up’ its engagement with its ‘Pacific family’, emphasising that its relationships with Pacific states will be characterised by respect for, and listening to them, as equals. But while the government has articulated its intention to improve its relationships with Pacific states, puzzlingly, it adopts policies that undermine this goal. This article analyses how and why this occurs. It outlines what this analysis demonstrates about how leaders and officials perceive the Pacific, what assumptions and habits inform those beliefs, and as the ‘step-up’ moves from announcement to implementation, how they are translated into behaviour via government policy. It concludes by arguing that Australian leaders and officials should seek consistency in their discourse about, and policies toward, the Pacific, guided by the discourse of the ‘Blue Pacific’.

摘要

澳大利亚政府对太平洋岛屿地区“拥挤而复杂”的地缘政治表现出战略焦虑。这反映了它对“印太”地缘战略竞争的更广泛担忧，以及它认为太平洋国家“小”和“弱”，因此容易受到潜在敌对势力影响的看法。与此同时，政府发誓要“加强”与“太平洋大家庭”的接触，强调其与太平洋国家的关系将以平等尊重和倾听它们为特征。但是，尽管政府已明确表示有意改善与太平洋国家的关系，但令人费解的是，它采取的政策却破坏了这一目标。本文分析了这种情况发生的方式和原因。它概述了该分析表明领导人和官员如何看待太平洋，哪些假设和习惯影响了这些信念，以及随着“升级”从宣布到实施，它们如何通过政府政策转化为行为。它最后认为，澳大利亚领导人和官员应在“蓝色太平洋”话语的指导下，在他们关于太平洋的话语和政策中寻求一致性。