link to page 1 
May 10, 2019
The Pacific Islands
Overview
during World War II, as demonstrated by the battles of the
The Pacific Islands region in the Southwest Pacific is
Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Pelelieu.
attracting increasing attention from U.S. foreign policy
From 1946 to 1958, the United States conducted 67
experts, largely driven by the People’s Republic of China’s
atmospheric atomic and thermonuclear weapons tests over
(PRC’s) expanding engagement in the region. Other
the Marshall Islands atolls of Bikini and Enewetak. In
concerns include climate change and sea level rise;
recent years, the Pacific Islands region has emerged as an
challenges related to illegal fishing and the sustainability of
arena of major power competition, with the United States,
fisheries in the region; and issues related to self-
Australia, and New Zealand increasingly vying with China
determination and decolonization. The region has strategic
for influence among Pacific Island countries.
significance for the United States because it hosts key U.S.
military installations and because Pacific nations are
The Pacific Islands Forum is the region’s main political and
reliable supporters of U.S. diplomatic initiatives,
economic policy organization. It has 18 members:
particularly at the United Nations.
Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, the
Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, New
In September 2018 at the 30th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)
Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon
Forum Partners Dialogue held in Nauru, then-U.S.
Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The organization has
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke stated:
aimed to promote regional interests while maintaining good
relations with the United States and its friends and allies in
The United States is deeply committed to the
the region (particularly Australia and Japan) on the one
security and prosperity of our friends and neighbors
hand, and China, on the other.
in the Pacific…. We see all of the Pacific Islands as
an essential part of our free and open Indo-Pacific
Figure 1. The Pacific Islands Region and Subregions
policy.... When the United States invests in the
Pacific Islands, we do so as a partner committed to
a shared future that advances national sovereignty,
regional cooperation, and trust.
U.S. territories American Samoa, Guam, and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, as well as
the state of Hawaii, are an integral part of the United States’
presence in the Pacific. The Freely Associated States (FAS)
—the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), Federated
States of Micronesia (FSM), and the Republic of Palau—
are sovereign countries that through bilateral agreements
with the United States (Compacts of Free Association)
receive U.S. economic assistance while granting the United
States the prerogatives to operate military bases on their
soil and make decisions that affect mutual security.
Source: Congressional Research Service
Background
The United States and the Region
Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are scattered over a broad
U.S. engagement in the region includes security
expanse of ocean and are divided among three sub-regions
—
cooperation with Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga,
Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia (Figure 1). Some,
which are the only PICs with military forces; sustainable
such as Papua New Guinea, are relatively large with
fisheries management; and military and development
extensive natural resources. Others, such as Tuvalu, are
assistance. The United States has significant military assets
very small, low-lying coral atoll nations with limited
based in the Pacific. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, based in
economic prospects and critical vulnerability to the current
Hawaii, encompasses Oceania as part of its area of
and expected effects of climate change and sea level rise.
responsibility. The United States has air and naval bases on
Many PICs rely on fisheries, tourism, and remittances for
Guam and an intercontinental ballistic missile test site on
revenue. The United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand,
Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, which also
France, and the United States traditionally have played key
supports space surveillance activities.
security and economic roles in the region.
In 2018, the U.S. military held discussions with the
Despite its remote location, the region periodically has been
Micronesian government about building naval facilities,
central in global affairs. It was of key strategic importance
https://crsreports.congress.gov
The Pacific Islands
expanding an airport runway for military use, and engaging
sought to develop port facilities in Vanuatu has raised some
in military exercises in Micronesia. The United States
concerns about China’s strategic intentions in the region.
works with Australia, France, and New Zealand through the
Quadrilateral Defense Coordination Group to coordinate
The diplomatic rivalry between the PRC and Taiwan
maritime security in the region, and is collaborating with
(Republic of China) also plays a role in China’s
Papua New Guinea and Australia to develop the Lombrum
engagement in the South Pacific. Six countries in the region
naval base on Manus Island.
recognize Taiwan (Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru,
Palau, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu), out of 16 worldwide.
The United States has shiprider agreements with 10 PICs,
In 2018, Beijing banned Chinese tourists from visiting
which allow local law enforcement officers to embark on
Palau, in a decision that some observers believe was aimed
U.S. naval and coast guard ships in order to board and
at pressuring Palau to switch diplomatic relations.
search vessels suspected of violating laws and to combat
Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. The
Australia and New Zealand
Department of State extends $21 million annually in
Australia’s Pacific “Step Up,” New Zealand’s “Reset,” and
assistance to Pacific Island parties to the South Pacific Tuna
French President Emmanuel Macron’s 2018 visit to the
Treaty (SPTT) to support sustainable fisheries.
region represent initiatives by traditionally influential actors
to reengage with Pacific Island countries and counter
Foreign Assistance
China’s growing regional influence. Australia has provided
By some measures, the top providers of foreign assistance
patrol boats to some PICs; increased aerial surveillance and
to the Pacific Islands region, in order of region-wide
naval deployments in the region; established an
amount, are Australia, the United States, China, New
Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific; and
Zealand, and Japan. U.S. economic support to the region is
supported the Blackrock Peacekeeping Camp in Fiji. New
concentrated in the Freely Associated States. The U.S.
Zealand, which already sends 60% of its foreign aid to the
government, through the Department of the Interior, will
region, has pledged to boost its assistance further.
have provided roughly $5.6 billion in Compact of Free
Association funding to the RMI and FSM by 2023 and
Environmental Concerns: Climate
$1.06 billion to Palau by 2024, when the current terms for
Change and Fisheries
Compact assistance end. Some studies have raised concerns
Pacific Island leaders agreed on an expanded concept of
that economic assistance will need to be extended beyond
security in the 2018 Boe Declaration on Regional Security,
the current terms due to the lack of budgetary self-
which reaffirmed its signatories’ view that climate change
sufficiency in the FAS.
remains “the single greatest threat” to the Pacific. Climate
change, and related sea level rise, presents an existential
In addition, U.S. foreign assistance to PICs includes support
threat to several PICs. Some studies project that
for the Pacific Islands Forum, disaster preparedness and
groundwater contamination and damage to crops and
response, economic development, and HIV/AIDS
infrastructure will render many low-lying Pacific atoll
prevention and treatment programs in Papua New Guinea.
islands uninhabitable within decades. Pacific Island nations
U.S. assistance also includes International Military
have called on the United States to support the Paris
Education and Training (IMET) programs for the defense
Agreement on climate and to limit global temperature rise
forces of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga and the
to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
security forces of Samoa.
Pacific fisheries are under pressure, particularly from IUU
China’s development assistance to the Pacific Islands
fishing, estimated to be worth $616 million in lost revenues
region consists largely of loans, infrastructure, other public
annually. According to one source, the region has the
works projects, and investments in the extraction of natural
highest rate of IUU fishing worldwide. China, which
resources. About two-thirds of Chinese assistance in the
accounts for more than a third of global fish consumption,
region is provided in the form of loans rather than grants.
is a major contributor to IUU fishing in the region.
Due to their commercial characteristics, many of China’s
assistance activities do not meet the standards of “official
Self Determination and Decolonization
development assistance” as defined by the Organization for
The process of self-determination and decolonization
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
continues to unfold in the region. In a November 2018
referendum, the people of New Caledonia voted 56.4% to
China’s Expanding Influence
43.6% to remain part of France. Papua New Guinea and the
The PRC has become an increasingly significant actor in
Autonomous Bougainville Government have agreed to hold
the South Pacific in recent years through diplomacy, loans
a referendum on independence for Bougainville in October
and assistance, infrastructure development, trade, and
2019. The guarantee of a referendum was a key outcome of
tourism. These trends challenge the influence of traditional
the 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement, which ended a
regional powers. China has loaned significant sums to
decade-long civil war.
several PICs including Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and Papua
New Guinea. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence referred to
Thomas Lum, Specialist in Asian Affairs
PRC loans to the PICs as “debt traps,” and U.S.
Bruce Vaughn, Specialist in Asian Affairs
Ambassador to Australia Arthur Culvahouse stated that
China was employing “pay-day diplomacy” to exert
IF11208
influence in the region. In addition, reports that China has
https://crsreports.congress.gov
The Pacific Islands
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to
congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.
Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has
been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the
United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be
reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include
copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you
wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.
https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF11208 · VERSION 1 · NEW