Asia | Banyan

Australia needs to rethink its approach to its Pacific island neighbours 

They care more about development than hard security

Illustration of Australia and the pacific islands overlaid on a rugby ball and pitch
Illustration: Lan Truong

FROM AUSTRALIA’S perspective the Pacific’s island states have sat for decades in its backyard. Latterly a gate-crasher has stomped in. China has shaken Australian assumptions in the Pacific.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Ocean promotion”

From the February 17th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

The Adani scandal takes the shine off Modi’s electoral success

The tycoon’s indictment clouds the prime minister’s prospects

Priyanka Gandhi addresses a rally standing in front of an image of herself.

Priyanka Gandhi: dynastic scion, and hope of India’s opposition

Poised to enter parliament, she may have bigger ambitions than that 


Kazakhstan, the Ustyurt plateau. Caspian sea;

The Caspian Sea is shrinking rapidly

This has big implications for Russia, which has come to rely on Central Asian ports


Racial tensions boil over in New Zealand

A controversial bill regarding Maori people punctures its relative harmony

Once a free-market pioneer, Sri Lanka takes a leap to the left

A new president with Marxist roots now dominates parliament too