The Pacific in the 'Asian Century': Outre-Terre, #58

By Adrien Rodd

First English edition of Outre-Terre (No. 58-59). Editor: Adrien Rodd.
 

This double issue of the Outre-Terre journal is structured around three main themes:

1. The first deals with the challenges of the 'Asian century' and relations with Asia from the perspective of the Oceanian states, and, in particular, the small island developing states.
2. The second axis focuses on current perspectives on China's motivations and concrete actions in the South Pacific.
3. The last axis of this issue deals with the responses of Western powers to China's growing influence in Oceania, from the angle of diplomatic competition in the region.
4. As a plus, there is a focus on the reshoring opportunities and realities in Vitenam.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ghazipur
• Release date: Dec 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781916005990

Book preview

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Outre-Terre

Revue européenne de géopolitique

N° 58-59, 2020/1

The Pacific In The 'Asian Century’

Copyright

© Ghazipur, 2020

ISBN numérique : 9781916005990

Composition numérique : 2021

http://www.ghazipur-publications.website/

Cette œuvre est protégée par le droit d’auteur et strictement réservée à l’usage privé du client. Toute reproduction ou diffusion au profit de tiers, à titre gratuit ou onéreux, de tout ou partie de cette œuvre est strictement interdite et constitue une contrefaçon prévue par les articles L 335-2 et suivants du Code de la propriété intellectuelle. L’éditeur se réserve le droit de poursuivre toute atteinte à ses droits de propriété intellectuelle devant les juridictions civiles ou pénales.

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Table des matières

The Pacific in the 'Asian century’

Adrien  Rodd

Editor-in-chief (English edition), Outre-Terre; Guest Editor, Issue 58-59.

Guest Editor of this issue of Outre-Terre, is a Senior Lecturer in British and Commonwealth Studies at the Centre for Cultural Studies of Contemporary Societies (CHCSC) at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and at the Institute of Political Studies in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. His research focuses on post-colonial nation-building in Oceania, and on the political history and international relations of Commonwealth member states in the region. Concerning the geopolitics of the Pacific, he is the author of the recent article A road to island sovereignty and empowerment? Fiji's aims within the Belt and Road Initiative (Island Studies Journal, Nov. 2020).

When discussing the geostrategic interests, tensions or opportunities of the Asia-Pacific or Indo-Pacific region, Asia generally receives more attention than the small island Pacific states and territories, or even Australia. The term Asian century, coined in the 1980s, expresses this well: Asia's industrialised economies, partly supported by a growing domestic market with a large and growing middle class, will together account for more than half of global GDP by 2050. And precisely, Asia at the beginning of the 21st century is also an issue from the point of view of the various Oceanian governments. This issue focuses on the different modalities of the relationship between the Oceanian world and East Asia, as well as the reactions that these relationships generate among the Western powers.

Encompassing Oceania

English is the language of government in all the independent states of Oceania, and English speakers speak little of Oceania. They prefer to think of themselves as constituting the Pacific, a group of islands which intellectuals such as the Tongan-Fijian Epeli Hauʻofa like to say are connected rather than separated by the vast ocean they share. In a more prosaic way, it is commonly accepted that Oceania is a region made up of four great geo-cultural and linguistic spaces.

The first human beings arrived about 50,000 years ago from Asia. By geographical chance, the largest land mass in what is now called Oceania is the closest region to Asian lands. The first settlers settled in New Guinea and Australia, which at that time formed a single continent. Over the following millennia, they populated the whole of this very large island, separating into hundreds of independent communities, speaking hundreds of different but related languages and maintaining trade relations. They are the ancestors of the Papuans of New Guinea and the Aboriginals of Australia.

Much later, some 4,000 years ago, new Asian settlers reached New Guinea. These were the Austronesians; whose ancestors came from Taiwan. They mingled with the Papuans in the coastal regions of New Guinea and the nearby islands to the east and north-east, and their descendants gradually undertook one of the most remarkable feats in the prehistory of mankind: the exploration and first colonisation of the scattered islands of the Pacific. They inhabited what are now the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia, and some 3,000 years ago they reached Fiji, after journeys of several hundred kilometres on the high seas. Their descendants, in turn, populated Tonga and Samoa and then explored, discovered and colonised the myriad of small islands in the eastern and equatorial Pacific. They reached Easter Island in the far east and the Hawaiian Islands in the far north around the 4th century AD. New Zealand was the last part of the Pacific to be populated, around the 13th century, by settlers from islands further north, who would become the Maori.

Four geo-cultural and linguistic areas are commonly distinguished today. The immense space populated by the Austronesians is thus divided into three. The western archipelagos, close to Australia, are called Melanesia. They are territories with a wide variety of customs and modes of social organisation, and with a very high linguistic density: Vanuatu, with some 110 indigenous languages and 275,000 inhabitants, is the country in the world with the most languages per inhabitant, while in Papua New Guinea there are about 800 indigenous languages - more than in any other country. The Melanesian territories are larger than those of the other archipelagos of Oceania and have more natural resources. But it is also the poorest region in Oceania today, with a low human development index, and little development in terms of infrastructure and essential public services. The Melanesian states have experienced the most instability and violence since their independence. Australians at the beginning of the 21st century referred to Melanesia as an arc of instability on their border, making it an important area of strategic interest that Australia is committed to securing and stabilising.

Along the Equator is Micronesia. As the name suggests, these are much smaller groups of islands. Their soils are the poorest in Oceania, and their potential for autonomous economic development is very low. Most of this region was under the sovereignty of the United States of America until the end of the twentieth century, and the resulting states have remained very dependent on this former trusteeship power. China's influence is less here than it is in the south, and indeed three of the five sovereign states of Micronesia have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, not with the People's Republic of China.

Polynesia is the largest area, covering the centre and east of the South Pacific, and extending as far north as Hawaii. Despite its size, it is the most homogenous region of Oceania in terms of culture and language. The Polynesian languages are closely related, and pre-colonial indigenous social structures and customs were also similar, based on hereditary hierarchies. It is a huge area, but the land area is very small. New Zealand alone, which historically is Polynesian, accounts for almost 90 % of the land in this area. There are only three other fully sovereign states in Polynesia: Tonga, Samoa, and Tuvalu, whose international influence is minimal. The other territories of Polynesia remain under the sovereignty of Western nations - including, of course, French Polynesia for France, and American Samoa for the United States.

Finally, in the far south-western Pacific, we find the pre-Austronesian indigenous societies: the Papuans, mainly in the mountainous and heavily forested highlands of the interior of New Guinea, and the Australian Aboriginals. This also means that Australia is culturally distinct from the rest of Oceania. Unlike New Zealand, whose successive governments in the 21st century like to recall Polynesian kinship, a cultural and historical link presented as a motivation for New Zealand's diplomatic and economic involvement in the region.

This issue

This double issue of Outre-Terre journal is structured around three main themes. The first deals with the challenges of the ‘Asian century’ and relations with Asia from the perspective of the Oceanian states, and, in particular, the small island developing states. Tim Harcourt explains the history of Australia's trade and diplomatic relations with Asia: the opening up of trade with Japan in the 1950s and then with China in the 1970s, accompanied by the end of the White Australia Policy which had existed since 1901. He explains the context of the decisions of successive Australian political leaders as Australia deliberately anchors itself in the Asia-Pacific region and responds to the opportunities and challenges of the Asian century. Mark Rolls examines the relationship of New Zealand, a dialogue partner of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), with the latter's international cooperation on regional security. He emphasises that while the Sino-American rivalry is becoming a source of increased tension in East Asia, the New Zealand government wishes to strengthen its cooperation with ASEAN and supports the latter's desire to be the central articulation of the new concept of the Indo-Pacific space. Xinyuan Dai and Joshua Holmes explain the weakness of the Asia-Pacific regional economic institutions, arguing that the latter first facilitated the implementation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and then, with the American withdrawal, allowed an important space for Chinese regional initiatives. Joanna Siekiera develops the idea of an Oceanian regionalism of the island developing states, which she views as being strengthened by the growing relations of these states with Asia. Ronald May, finally, takes us into the issues at stake on both sides of the only land border between Oceania and Asia: that which separates the independent state of Papua New Guinea and the Papuan territories under Indonesian sovereignty. If Indonesia is now proposing to be a development partner to the small island states of Oceania, it is to silence their criticism of Indonesian repression of Papuan aspirations for self-determination, and of Indonesian human rights violations in these provinces. At the geographical crossroads between Southeast Asia and the island Pacific, Melanesian states are thus forced to choose between their pan-Melanesian solidarity with the Papuans of Indonesia or the economic opportunities offered by this nearby Asian giant.

The second axis focuses on current perspectives on China's motivations and concrete actions in the South Pacific. Sébastien Goulard first explains the New Silk Road of Chinese president Xi Jinping such as it has recently been deployed in Oceania. Tewfik Hamel offers a general perspective on the evolution of the military strategy of the People's Republic of China, before Jean-Paul Maréchal turns his attention to the climate diplomacy of China, a major power that bears heavy responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions yet which is courting small island states with promises of a green partnership. He thus questions the degree of relevance of the Chinese solution to climate change for these small developing states. Alexandre Dayant offers a detailed analysis of the data on development aid provided to small island states by partner states, both Asian and Western. The point here is to question the fear expressed in the West that China's influence on small Pacific states could be enhanced by debt trap diplomacy, which would force indebted states to make diplomatic or other concessions to China, the main new player in the Oceania region over the last fifteen years. And Henryk Szadziewski looks more closely at the effect on China's image of the failure of some of its infrastructure projects in Fiji.

Finally, the last axis of this issue deals with the responses of Western powers to China's growing influence in Oceania, from the angle of diplomatic competition in the region. Adrien Rodd offers an overview of Sino-Western diplomatic rivalries in the South Pacific, showing the advantages China has in terms of relations with Oceanian states, although it cannot hope, in the short or medium term, to supplant Australia's essential regional role. Kendra Roddis and Alexander Tan analyse and compare the modalities, reception and effectiveness of the defence diplomacy exercised by China, Australia and New Zealand respectively with the developing Pacific island states. They show that, while this competition is generally beneficial to the recipient states, New Zealand, the smallest of the three donor states, can best target its actions in relation to its own regional interests. Christian Lechervy analyses in detail the importance of the Micronesian zone in the United States' strategic approach to the Indo-Pacific as a whole. Covering the equatorial part of the Pacific and thus separating the South Pacific from East Asia, Micronesia (small islands) has been an area under US geostrategic domination since the Second World War, but the evolution of bilateral and multilateral relations in the region means that US power must renew its interest in the Oceanian states formerly under its sovereignty. Annick Cizel analyses more generally, beyond the Micronesian region, the American policies of alliances in the Asia-Pacific region and the positions adopted there by US allies. Denise Fisher, finally, looks at the other Western economic and military power that has retained a territorial anchorage in Oceania - namely, France. She demonstrates that France is relying on its sovereignty over these territories, at a time when New Caledonia is engaged in a process of self-determination, to establish its legitimacy as a significant partner of countries in the region, explicitly in the face of Chinese regional activities.

Oceania’s States and Territories-Summary Sheets

Adrien  Rodd

Guest Editor of this issue of Outre-Terre, is a Senior Lecturer in British and Commonwealth Studies at the Centre for Cultural Studies of Contemporary Societies (CHCSC) at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and at the Institute of Political Studies in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. His research focuses on post-colonial nation-building in Oceania, and on the political history and international relations of Commonwealth member states in the region. Concerning the geopolitics of the Pacific, he is the author of the recent article A road to island sovereignty and empowerment? Fiji's aims within the Belt and Road Initiative (Island Studies Journal, Nov. 2020).

Editor-in-chief (English edition) of Outre-Terre and Guest Editor of Issue 58-59 of the journal, Adrien Rodd is a lecturer in British and Commonwealth Studies at the Centre for Cultural Studies of Contemporary Societies (CHCSC) at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France) and at the Institute of Political Studies in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (France).

Sovereign States

1. Australia

Full name: Commonwealth of Australia

Area: 7,600,000 km²

Capital city: Canberra

Population: 25,500,000

Independence: 1901 (autonomous federation); 1942 (de jure sovereignty) from the United Kingdom.

Government: Commonwealth realm [2] ; federation.

Head of State: Elizabeth II, represented by Governor General David Hurley.

Head of Government: PM Scott Morrison.

Official languages: none (de facto English).

In practice fully independent after the First World War, Australia chose for a long time to remain economically dependent on the United Kingdom, until the latter's entry into the EEC in 1973. This event profoundly changed Australia, which opened up to Asian trade and immigration, and defines itself today as multicultural. Some 14 % of Australians are of Asian origin or descent.

Australia remains strategically a member of the Western world and a close ally of the United States, but its main trading partners are in Asia, foremost among them China.

Aboriginals constitute 3 % of the population, and on average experience a lower standard of living than that of other Australians.

2. Fiji

Full name: Republic of Fiji

Region: Melanesia

Area: 18,300 km²

Capital city: Suva

Population: 921,000

Independence: 1970 (from the United Kingdom).

Government: parliamentary republic.

Head of State: President Jioji Konrote.

Head of Government: PM Voreqe Bainimarama.

Official languages: English, Fijian, Hindi.

Fiji was formally unified as a kingdom in 1871 by Chief Ratu Seru Cakobau, who ceded it to the United Kingdom three years later.

Customary chiefs retain their influence in indigenous society. The descendants of Indian immigrants from the colonial period constitute 37.5 % of the population, while 58 % of the population is indigenous (itaukei).

Prime Minister Bainimarama has been a spokesman for the interests of small island states on climate change. Fiji is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and has an active and diverse foreign policy.

3. Kiribati

Full name: Republic of Kiribati

Region: Micronesia

Area: 726 km²

Capital city: South Tarawa

Population: 120,000

Independence: 1979 (from the United Kingdom).

Government: parliamentary republic.

Head of State & Government: President Taaneti Mamau.

Official languages: English, Gilbertese.

No political unity before the colonial period. This poor state, with many scattered islands, is today particularly vulnerable to global warming.

4. Marshall Islands

Full name: Republic of the Marshall Islands

Region: Micronesia

Area: 181 km²

Capital city: Majuro

Population: 59,000

Independence: 1986 (from the United States).

Government: parliamentary republic.

Head of State & Government: President David Kabua.

Official languages: English, Marshallese.

Islands claimed by Spain in the 16th century then sold to Germany at the end of the 19th century. Having come under American sovereignty, they were the site of nuclear tests until the end of the 1950s.

The country remains linked to the United States by a compact of free association which allows the United States to use its territory for exclusive military purposes in exchange for economic development assistance. This agreement expires in 2023.

5. F.S. Micronesia

Full name: Federated States of Micronesia

Region: Micronesia

Area: 702 km²

Capital city: Palikir

Population: 115,000

Independence: 1986 (from the United States).

Government: parliamentary and federal republic.

Head of State & Government: President David Panuelo.

Official languages: English (federal level).

Islands successively under Spanish, German, Japanese and American sovereignty. Today a federation of four states - the most populous of which, Chuuk, has a government contemplating secession. Political institutions are based on the American model.

The Federated States of Micronesia are linked to the United States by the same type of compact of free association as the Marshall Islands, which likewise runs until 2023. The country is however a member of the Chinese Belt and Road project, despite American concerns in this regard.

6. Nauru

Full name: Republic of Nauru

Region: Micronesia

Area: 21 km²

Capital city: none

Population: 11,000

independence: 1968 (from Australia).

Government: parliamentary republic.

Head of State & Government: President Lionel Aingimea.

Official languages: English, Nauruan.

Former Australian colony exploited for its phosphate reserves. At independence, these reserves made Nauru one of the richest states in the world per capita, before their decline and poor management of the economy plunged it into crisis in the 1990s.

7. New Zealand

Full name: New Zealand

Region: Polynesia

Area: 268,000 km²

Capital city: Wellington

Population: 4,800,000

Independence: 1854 (autonomy); 1907 (Dominion status); 1947 (de jure sovereignty) from the United Kingdom.

Government: Commonwealth realm.

Head of State: Elizabeth II, represented by Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy.

Head of Government: PM Jacinda Ardern.

Official languages: English, Maori, New Zealand Sign Language.

New Zealand's history is similar to that of Australia, in terms of a long economic and emotional dependence on the United Kingdom followed by a rapid opening up to Asia. Maori are 16.5 % of the population.

8. Palau

Full name: Republic of Palau

Region: Micronesia

Area: 459 km²

Capital city: Melekeok

Population: 21,000

Independence: 1994 (from the United States).

Government: parliamentary and federal republic.

Head of State & Government: President Tommy Remengesau.

Official languages: English, Palauan.

Palau, under American sovereignty until 1994 and geographically very close to Asia, is linked to the United States by the same type of compact of free association as the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. It is a federation of 16 States, all very small.

9. Papua New Guinea

Full name: Independent State of Papua New Guinea

Region: Melanesia

Area: 463,000 km²

Capital city: Port Moresby

Population: 8,900,000

Independence: 1975 (from Australia).

Government: Commonwealth realm.

Head of State: Elizabeth II, represented by Governor General Sir Bob Dadae.

Head of Government: PM James Marape.

Official languages: English, Tok Pisin (a creole), Hiri Motu.

Papua New Guinea covers the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and various adjoining islands. It is home to some 800 indigenous languages. Some regions, particularly in the highlands, remain very isolated and underdeveloped.

An armed movement in the island province of Bougainville, rich in copper, waged a war of independence from 1988 to 1997. Following a peace process and autonomy, its population voted in 2019 in favour of full independence. Negotiations to this effect will begin shortly.

10. Solomon islands

Full name: Solomon Islands

Region: Melanesia

Area: 28,900 km²

Capital city: Honiara

Population: 687,000

Independence: 1978 (from the United Kingdom).

Government: Commonwealth realm.

Head of State: Elizabeth II, represented by Governor General Sir David Vunagi.

Head of Government: PM Manasseh Sogavare.

Official language: English.

The lingua franca is Pijin (a creole). There are some 70 indigenous languages.

Having inherited artificial borders and a weak shared national feeling, this country, along with its neighbor Papua New Guinea, has in Australia's eyes constituted an ‘arc of instability’ in the west of the Pacific. An international intervention for stabilisation led by Australia and New Zealand in 2003 prevented the Solomons from becoming a failed state.

11. Samoa

Full name: Independent State of Samoa

Region: Polynesia

Area: 2,800 km²

Capital city: Apia

Population: 199,000

Independence: 1962 (from New Zealand).

Government: parliamentary republic.

O le Ao o le Malo (Head of State): Va'aletoa Sualauvi II.

Head of Government: PM Sailele Malielegaoi.

Official languages: Samoan, English.

The archipelago was a cultural and political entity before colonisation, although it was divided into layers of chiefdoms. The country has enjoyed economic and political stability since its independence, governed since 1982 by the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) although opposition parties are allowed. The ideology of this party (conservative, Christian, semi-authoritarian) is in tune with traditional indigenous society. At its maritime border, American Samoa remains under American sovereignty.

12. Tonga

Full name: Kingdom of Tonga

Region: Polynesia

Area: 748 km²

Capital city: Nuku‘alofa

Population: 107,000

Independence: 1970 (from the United Kingdom).

Government: parliamentary monarchy.

Head of State: King Tupou VI.

Head of Government: PM Pohiva Tuʻiʻonetoa.

Official languages: Tongan, English.

Tonga has a thousand-year old tradition of political unity. High chief Taufa‘ahau then reunited these islands under his authority in 1852. In 1875, he established a modern State with a British-inspired constitution and proclaimed himself King George Tupou I. The Western powers subsequently recognised this sovereign kingdom but the United Kingdom imposed a protectorate on it in 1900. From the 1920s, the British all but ceased their interference in Tongan affairs. A movement for more democracy emerged in the 1980s, obtained major reforms in the late 2000s, and came to power in 2014. The Tongan nobility, however, remain very influential.

13. Tuvalu

Full name: Tuvalu

Region: Polynesia

Area: 26 km²

Capital city: Funafuti

Population: 11,800

Independence: 1978 (from the United Kingdom).

Government: Commonwealth realm.

Head of State: Elizabeth II, represented by Governor General Teniku Talesi.

Head of Government: PM Kausea Natano.

Official languages: Tuvaluan, English.

Like Kiribati, the microstate of Tuvalu is considered particularly vulnerable to global warming. It does not have any credible prospects for economic development other than through international aid.

14. Vanuatu

Full name: Republic of Vanuatu

Region: Melanesia

Area: 12,200 km²

Capital city: Port Vila

Population: 307,000

Independence: 1980 (from France and the United Kingdom).

Government: parliamentary republic.

Head of State: President Tallis Obed Moses.

Head of Government: PM Bob Loughman.

Official languages: English, French, Bislama (a creole).

The indigenous French- and English-speaking communities are the respective results of rival colonial schools during the Franco-British condominium. Bislama, the lingua franca, is a creole derived from English. There are over 100 indigenous languages, giving the country the highest density of indigenous languages in the world. A popular independence movement in the 1970s allowed Vanuatu better national cohesion than in Solomon Islands or in Papua New Guinea.

De facto sovereign states de jure under New Zealand sovereignty

15. Cook Islands

Full name: Cook Islands

Region: Polynesia

Area: 236 km²

Capital city: Avarua

Population: 17,900

Government: parliamentary monarchy.

Head of State: Elizabeth II (as Queen of New Zealand).

Head of government: PM Mark Brown.

Official languages: English, Cook Islands Maori.

An archipelago State in free association with New Zealand since 1965. Since the 1990s, the Cook Islands have been fully independent, including in terms of their foreign policy and thus have their own bilateral and multilateral diplomatic relations with foreign States. The country is not, however, a member of the UN because it would have to give up being part of the Realm of New Zealand (the set of three states of which the Queen of New Zealand is the monarch), and its citizens would thus lose their New Zealand citizenship which allows them to settle freely in New Zealand.

16. Niue

Full name: Niue

Region: Polynesia

Area: 260 km²

Capital city: Alofi

Population: 1,700

Government: parliamentary monarchy.

Head of State: Elizabeth II (as Queen of New Zealand).

Head of Government: PM Dalton Tagelagi.

Official languages: English, Niuean.

Niue is a single isolated Polynesian island and in fact, the second smallest independent State in the world in terms of population, after the Vatican. The island has about 1,700 inhabitants but some 24,000 Niueans live in New Zealand.

Niue has exactly the same status as the Cook Islands and conducts its own foreign policy while remaining de jure a member State of the Realm of New Zealand. In July 2018, Niue thus signed a memorandum of participation in the Chinese ‘Belt and Road’ project without consulting the New Zealand government.

Non-sovereign inhabited territories

17. Guam

Region: Micronesia

Area: 540 km²

Capital city: Hagåtña

Population: 168,000

Sovereignty type: Unincorporated and organized territory of the United States.

Governor: Lou Guerrero.

Official languages: English, Chamorro.

Multi-ethnic population, mainly Chamorro (indigenous, 37 %) and Filipino (26 %). Located in the far west of the Pacific and north of the equator, near Palau and the Philippines, Guam was a Spanish colony from the 16th century, then annexed by the United States in 1898 at the end of the Spanish-American War. With limited autonomy, the island remains the site of a major American military base.

18. Hawaii

Region: Polynesia

Area: 10,900 km²

Capital city: Honolulu

Population: 1,400,000

Sovereignty type: US State.

Governor: David Ige.

Official languages: English, Hawaiian (limited use).

Founded by the Chief then King Kamehameha I, Hawaii in the 19th century was a sovereign Polynesian State recognised by the Western powers. American immigrant traders seized power by force in 1887, abolished the native monarchy and in 1898, obtained the annexation of Hawaii by the United States. The territory became a state of the United States of America in 1959.

Indigenous Hawaiians constitute 5.9 % of the population; 37.4 % of Hawaiians are of Asian descent and 26.5 % are white. There is a significant military presence.

The flag remains that of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the presence of the Union Jack being due to the country's good relations with the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 19th century.

19. Northern Mariana Islands

Region: Micronesia

Area: 464 km²

Capital city: Saipan

Population: 51,000

Sovereignty type: Unincorporated and organized territory of the United States.

Governor: Ralph Torres.

Official languages: English, Chamorro, Carolinian.

Multi-ethnic population, predominantly Asian. The indigenous Chamorros make up 24 % of the population. The archipelago was under Spanish sovereignty, then German, then Japanese (as a result of the First World War), then American.

The territory, whose people vote Republican, has significant autonomy.

20. New Caledonia

Region: Melanesia

Area: 18,500 km²

Capital city: Noumea

Population: 271,000

Sovereignty type: Sui generis overseas collectivity.

President of the government: Thierry Santa.

Official language: French.

The indigenous Kanak constitute various peoples, speaking about forty languages, and consist of 39 % of the current population. New Caledonia, with very large nickel reserves, was annexed by the French Empire in 1853. The violence surrounding the Kanak independence struggle and its repression led to the Matignon (1988) and Nouméa (1998) Agreements which increased the autonomy of the territory and its recognition of indigenous customs and have led to three independence referendums. The first two (2018 and 2020) saw New Caledonians reject independence by a relatively small majority.

21. Papua

Region: Melanesia

Area: 315,000 km²

Capital city: Jayapura

Population: 3,400,000

Sovereignty type: Province of Indonesia.

Governor: Lukas Enembe.

Official language: Indonesian.

The province covers the western half of the island of New Guinea and shares a border with independent Papua New Guinea. A former Dutch colony, it was annexed by Indonesia in 1963, and the indigenous Papuan population was deprived of the right to self-determination with the tacit consent of the United Nations. The Papuan population suffers from discrimination and the rural Papuan regions of the province remain very underdeveloped. The Papuan independence movement has been brutally suppressed by the Indonesian authorities and armed forces for decades.

22. West Papua

Region: Melanesia

Area: 140,000 km²

Capital city: Manokwari

Population: 964,000

Sovereignty type: Province of Indonesia.

Governor: Dominggus Mandacan.

Official language: Indonesian.

This island territory in north-western New Guinea was separated from the province of Papua in 2003. Indonesian Muslims are encouraged to settle there, and indigenous Papuans make up only 51 % of the population.

Human rights activists and separatists apply the name West Papua to the whole of Indonesia's two Papuan provinces.

23. Easter Island

Region: Polynesia

Area: 164 km²

Capital city: Hanga Roa

Population: 7,800

Sovereignty type: Province of Chile, special territory.

Governor: Laura Alarcón.

Official language: Spanish.

Easter Island is very far from other Pacific territories. Chile is not a significant player in Oceanian geopolitics.

24. Pitcairn Islands

Region: Polynesia

Area: 47 km²

Capital city: Adamstown

Population: 43

Sovereignty type: autonomous overseas territory of the United Kingdom.

Mayor: Charlene Warren-Peu.

Official language: none; de facto: Pitkern (a creole).

A territory inhabited by the descendants of the mutineers of the ship Bounty (1789). Very remote, it has no strategic importance for the United Kingdom.

25. French Polynesia

Region: Polynesia

Area: 4,200 km²

Capital city: Papeete

Population: 295,000

Sovereignty type: Overseas Collectivity of the French Republic.

President: Édouard Fritch.

Official language: French.

These islands were gradually annexed to France from 1880 and cover a large maritime area in the eastern South Pacific. France carried out nuclear tests there from the 1960s, attracting the condemnation of most other Pacific nations. Though an independence movement exists, anti-independence candidates won an overwhelming majority of seats in the Assembly of French Polynesia in the 2018 election.

26. American Samoa

Region: Polynesia

Area: 200 km²

Capital city: Pago Pago

Population: 49,000

Sovereignty type: Unincorporated territory of the United States.

Governor: Dominus Mandacan.

Official languages: English, Samoan.

The existence of this territory results from the tripartite Pacific partition agreement between the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States in 1899. The population is 89 % indigenous and the territory has significant political autonomy. There is no notable independence movement.

It is the only US Pacific territory in the South Pacific as the Micronesian territories of the United States are north of the Equator.

27. Tokelau

Region: Polynesia

Area: 10 km²

Capital city: none

Population: 1,600

Sovereignty type: De facto autonomous nation (New Zealand).

Head of Government: Fofo Tuisano.

Official languages: Tokelauan, English.

This very small territory includes three atolls, each with a single village. The population is almost entirely Polynesian. New Zealand sovereignty is the result of New Zealand's micro-imperialist ambitions at the start of the 20th century.

Tokelau has autonomy in domestic politics, with minimal control from Wellington. In the 2000s, the population voted twice against receiving formalised increased autonomy.

28. Wallis and Futuna

Region: Polynesia

Area: 124 km²

Capital city: Mata-Utu

Population: 11,600

Sovereignty type: Overseas Collectivity (France).

Senior administrator: Thierry Queffelec.

Official language: French.

In 1887 and 1888, these islands became French protectorates at the request of the French Catholic missionaries who were established there. They were annexed to New Caledonia in 1917, then became a separate overseas territory in 1961.

The French administrator governs with the elected Territorial Assembly and with the monarchs of the three Polynesian customary kingdoms of the archipelago. The population is essentially Polynesian; Wallisian and Futunan are the languages in everyday use. There is no independence movement.

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Notes de l'article

[2] ↑  Commonwealth realms are fully sovereign states, which symbolically recognise Queen Elizabeth II as head of state but do not grant her any power. Each of these kingdoms (sixteen in the world, including five in Oceania) is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy, where the executive power is in the hands of a Prime Minister who can govern only with the confidence of the parliament. The ceremonial functions of the monarch are exercised by a governor-general chosen by the prime minister of the country, or by its parliament.

Oceania’s Level of Economic and Human Development by State or Territory

Adrien  Rodd

Guest Editor of this issue of Outre-Terre, is a Senior Lecturer in British and Commonwealth Studies at the Centre for Cultural Studies of Contemporary Societies (CHCSC) at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and at the Institute of Political Studies in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. His research focuses on post-colonial nation-building in Oceania, and on the political history and international relations of Commonwealth member states in the region. Concerning the geopolitics of the Pacific, he is the author of the recent article A road to island sovereignty and empowerment? Fiji's aims within the Belt and Road Initiative (Island Studies Journal, Nov. 2020).

Editor-in-chief (English edition) of Outre-Terre and Guest Editor of Issue 58-59 of the journal, Adrien Rodd is a lecturer in British and Commonwealth Studies at the Centre for Cultural Studies of Contemporary Societies (CHCSC) at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France) and at the Institute of Political Studies in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (France).

Human Development Index is as calculated in 2019 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This index takes into account gross national income per capita and purchasing power parity, also shown in the table below (Table 1).

The UNDP only calculates this data for sovereign states and excludes microstates Tuvalu and Nauru. Other reports classify Guam, French Polynesia, the Northern Mariana Islands, New Caledonia, the Cook Islands, American Samoa, Niue and Wallis and Futuna as having a very high level of human development while Tokelau, Nauru and Tuvalu have a high level of human development. The Indonesian government publicly assesses its two Papuan provinces as having an average level of human development, significantly lower than that of other provinces in the country.

Table 1

These data show that the territories under American or French sovereignty, as well as the Cook Islands and Niue which benefit from New Zealand funding, have a higher level of development than that of the independent Island States, with the exception of Palau, the economy of which is based on tourism (especially, Japanese) and on substantial American aid.

Leaving aside Palau, which remains economically dependent on the United States, Fiji has the highest level of human and economic development among the independent Pacific island states. The Polynesian states (Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu), which are small but stable, come next, then the Micronesian states with poor soil and limited economic potential, and finally the Melanesian states of Western Oceania which experienced relatively little economic and human development during the colonial era, in particular because of their larger territories and populations, and of indigenous populations having remained partly isolated with heterogeneous customs and languages.

1-The challenges of the 'Asian Century' and relations with Asia: Oceanian perspectives

From the Tyranny of Distance to the Power of Proximity–Australia and the Asian Century

Tim  Harcourt

a Professor of Practice in Economics at the University of New South Wales School of Business. He is a former International Relations adviser to the Premier of South Australia, as well as Economic adviser to Ministers in the Australian Federal Government and has also been Chief Economist of the Australian Trade Commission. Since 2016, he has been presenting the television programme The Airport Economist on the economy and trade in Asian and more recently Latin American countries, and he is the author of a book of the same name (2008, Allen & Unwin) on Australian international trade in Asia, Europe and South America.

Professor of Practice in Economics, UNSW Sydney and host of The Airport Economist (www.theairporteconomist.com).

1 – Introduction

When I was a 25-year old Research Officer at the ACTU (Australian Council of Trade Unions), Bill Kelty, the legendary ACTU Secretary, asked me, apart from my day job, which was of course working on ACTU’s economic submission to the National Wage Case, what did I like to do, or what were my policy interests. I said: International Trade and Aboriginal Affairs. He was bemused, explaining he had trouble finding an officer to do these portfolios, so he said, I’ll give you both.

Well, I was thrilled and went along to every Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation meeting I could, met the great Pat Ddson, Noel Pearson, Lowitja (Lois) O’Donohue, John Moriarty and some of the leading Indigenous figures of the time. I worked on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment opportunities with my good mate Janina Harding, who led a team of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment brokers in each State and Territory (through the trade unions and the local chamber of commerce). And then along came the Mabo case, Wik, and other major Indigenous cases championed by the new Prime Minister, Paul Keating. Aboriginal Affairs was beginning to assume its rightful status in those heady times.

And then there was International Trade. We had GATT, the Cairns Group, the WTO, and then APEC. Australia’s engagement with the world, especially Asia, became front and centre of the Hawke, then the Keating Government. It was a far cry from my Reserve Bank days, just 6 years before, when, as a cadet-economist in (future Governor) Glenn Steven’s department of ‘Overseas Economics Conditions’, Australia’s trade interests were divided into the US, UK, non-UK Europe and Japan.

Again, Paul Keating, once he became Prime Minister in 1991, became a passionate advocate of Australia’s ties with Asia, just as he had embraced Indigenous issues. Building on the excellent work of Gareth Evans and Bob Hawke, he really championed APEC, convincing then President Bill Clinton to host the first APEC Leader’s Summit in Seattle and made relations with our Asian neighbours, particularly Indonesia, paramount to his Prime Ministership.

As CEO of the Australia Industry Group, Heather Ridout, once said to me in an interview:

"Paul Keating was the most influential Prime Minister when it came to the Asian region. He forced us to think about our relationships with Indonesia, with Malaysia, Singapore, all of ASEAN, North East Asia – the lot. He also reinvigorated our institutions in Asia with vehicles like APEC…

John Howard was very diligent in building relations in Asia, but his heart was really in the Anglo-American world. Bob Hawke was managerial and competent in Asia. But Paul Keating really started to pull the strings and assemble the elements of good deep relations. He put himself on the line over Asia, like he did in Aboriginal Affairs with the famous Redfern speech. Keating was a risk-taker – a calculated risk-taker, not a reckless one – but a risk-taker, nonetheless. He had confidence in himself and confidence that Australia could do great things as part of the Asia region.  [1]

I had the pleasure to interview Paul Keating, however the more curious I got, the more I realised Paul Keating wasn’t the first Australian leader to advocate for closer relations with Asia, although he clearly was one of the most passionate and accelerated our relationships with the region with confidence.

Australia’s relations with Asia go back well before our Parliamentary institutions were established by European settlement.

Indigenous Times, Convict Times and the 19th Century

During Indigenous times, there is evidence that the people of Arnhem Land traded trepang (sea cucumber) with the people of Makassar (now Sulawesi in Indonesia). This occurred because as the celebrated Australian economic historian, Geoffrey Blainey, says, Every newcomer to Australia was a discover…  [2]  A discoverer, to this island continent and indeed a trader. As they must have been traders too for their very survival, at least within their extended families. Much of