A New Cold War?

In 2012 former president of Kiribati Anote Tong welcomed increased interest in the Pacific Islands by external powers, commenting that it is ‘nice to be relevant’ (Tong 2015). He also noted significant changes in the way that leaders were dealing with outside forces impacting the region, a shift that Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte argued represented a ‘new Pacific diplomacy’. Characterised by an emphasis on self-determination exercised through new institutions and focused on addressing relevant global issues, particularly climate change, Fry and Tarte identified ‘a time of transformation of the regional diplomatic culture equivalent to the move from the colonial to the postcolonial era, a time that represents a transformation of regional order’ (Fry and Tarte 2015:4). Yet just a few years later, the region appears to be entering another transition occasioned by the very geopolitical changes welcomed by President Tong and associated with the expanding influence of China.