Micronesia and the Rise of China: Realpolitik Meets the Reef

ABSTRACT

This article examines the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) diplomatic relations with China, and its search for greater autonomy through financial and political independence as its current Compact of Free Association with the United States comes up for review in 2023. The article draws on diplomatic histories overlooked in existing analyses of regional diplomacy in which Micronesians explore alternative options for how to best advance their collective future interests. These Micronesian narratives demonstrate that external powers and aid donors should not take their influence for granted, nor necessarily correlate their largesse with local respect. The priorities of Pacific nations are increasingly focused on mitigating the existential threat of climate change to their environments. Avoidable environmental damage to a reef in Pohnpei by the Chinese fishing vessel Ping Da 7 in late 2013 and subsequent refusals to remove the grounded vessel and clean up the damage provide just one example of the FSM having to review their external relations in response to differences between donors’ promises and their practice. To maintain healthy relations with the FSM, this article argues that China and the United States need to respect and support the FSM as a sovereign nation with many compatible interests, but also occasional divergences in national priorities.

Key words:

• Micronesia
• FSM
• Compact of Free Association
• new Pacific diplomacy
• China
• climate change

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the anonymous referees and journal editorial staff for their helpful comments on drafts and care and diligence in the production process.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Terence Wesley-Smith, China in Oceania: New Forces in Pacific Politics (Honolulu: East-West Center, 2007); Terence Wesley-Smith and Edgar A. Porter, eds., China in Oceania: Reshaping the Pacific? (New York: Berghahn Books, 2010); Graeme Smith and Terence Wesley-Smith, eds., The China Alternative: Changing Regional Order in the Pacific Islands (Canberra: ANU Press, 2021). On the deep history of China in the Pacific, see Paul D’Arcy, ‘The Chinese Pacific: A Brief Historical Review’, Journal of Pacific History (hereinafter JPH) 49, no. 4 (2014): 396–420.

2 See, for example, Stewart Firth, ‘New Developments in the International Relations of the Pacific Islands’, JPH 48, no. 3 (2013): 286–93.

3 Jan van Tol with Mark Gunzinger, Andrew F. Krepinevich, and Jim Thomas, AirSea Battle: A Point-of-Departure Operational Concept (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 2010), 13, www.csbaonline.org/research/publications/airsea-battle-concept (accessed 20 Jan. 2021).

4 Changsen Yu, ‘The Pacific Islands in China’s Geo-Strategic Thinking’, in China and the Pacific: The View from Oceania, ed. Michael Powles (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2016), 92.

5 Ibid., 91–3. See also, Andrew S. Erikson, Lyle J. Goldstein, and Nan Li, eds, China, the United States, and 21st-Century Sea Power: Defining a Maritime Security Partnership (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2010).

6 For less alarmist analysis of tensions between China and the United States, see, for example, Minghao Zhao, ‘Is a New Cold War Inevitable? Chinese Perspectives on US–China Strategic Competition’, The Chinese Journal of International Politics 12, no. 3 (2019): 371–94.

7 Ashley Townshend, Brandan Thomas-Noone, and Matilda Steward, Averting Crisis: American Strategy, Military Spending and Collective Defence in the Indo-Pacific (Sydney: The United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney, 2019); Eric Heginbotham et al., The U.S.–China Military Scorecard: Forces, Geography, and the Evolving Balance of Power, 1996–2017 (Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, 2015); Michael D. Swaine, ‘Beyond American Predominance in the Western Pacific: The Need for a Stable U.S.–China Balance of Power’, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, April 20, 2015, https://carnegieendowment.org/2015/04/20/beyond-american-predominance-in-western-pacific-need-for-stable-u.s.-china-balance-of-power-pub-59837 (accessed 26 May 2021).

8 For a full range of FSM statistics and data, see the information available at Government of Federated States of Micronesia Statistics Unit, https://www.fsmstatistics.fm/ (accessed 26 May 2021).

9 For further discussion of the place of tuna and tourism in the FSM economy, see Francis X. Hezel, Is That the Best You Can Do? A Tale of Two Micronesian Economies (Honolulu: East-West Center, Pacific Islands Policy 1, 2006), 29–30; Paul D’Arcy, ‘The Role of the Tuna Fishery in the Economy of the Federated States of Micronesia’, Pacific Economic Bulletin 21, no. 3 (2006): 75–87.

10 The Compact of Free Association is a bilateral treaty between the FSM and the United States. It outlines each party’s duties and obligations in terms of diplomatic relations, financial assistance, and US military access. The full version of the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003 (as pertaining to both the FSM and the Marshall Islands) is available online at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-108publ188/pdf/PLAW-108publ188.pdf (accessed 26 May 2021).

11 The UN Charter, Article 83 of Chapter XII: International Trusteeship System, available at https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-12 (accessed 26 May 2021).

12 The Congress of Micronesia’s action was a response to US foot-dragging over Micronesian independence. See David Hanlon, Remaking Micronesia: Discourses Over Development in a Pacific Territory, 1955–1982 (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998), 95.

13 Lorin Robert, Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Palikir, FSM, interview with lead author, 7 Jan. 2011. All interviews for this article were conducted by Gonzaga Puas.

14 See Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-108publ188/pdf/PLAW-108publ188.pdf (accessed 26 May 2021).

15 Lead author’s personal interpretation as a lawyer in consultation with Lorin Robert. Robert said that as the Compact derives from the 1975 FSM Constitution, it is secondary to the Constitution. While there has been an ongoing debate over whether only the financial parts of the Compact are subject to renegotiation, the military part of the Compact remains in perpetuity.

16 Giff Johnson and Bernadette Carreon, ‘Micronesia’s Free Access to U.S Under Review’, Marianas Business Journal, July 18, 2011, republished online at http://www.micronesiaforum.org/index.php?p=/discussion/8984/micronesiaa-s-free-access-to-u-s-under-review (accessed 26 May 2011). See also Giff Johnson, ‘U.S. Lawmakers Seek Limit on Micronesian Immigrants’, Marianas Variety, 23 May 2011, republished online at http://www.pireport.org/articles/2011/05/23/us-lawmakers-seek-limit-micronesian (accessed 26 May 2021); Bill Jaynes, ‘Senate Appropriations Committee Takes Concrete Steps to Begin Barring Some FAS Citizens From Entry to the United States’, The Kaselehlie Press, 19 Sept. 2011, http://www.fm/news/kp/2011/sept11_1.htm (accessed 26 May 2021).

17 Jaynes, ‘Senate Appropriations Committee’.

18 See Francis X. Hezel, Micronesians on the Move: Eastwards and Upward Bound (Honolulu: East-West Center, Pacific Islands Policy 9, 2013).

19 Reactions to Inouye’s comments were widespread on the online Micronesian Forum (http://www.micronesiaforum.org/). This section is also informed by the lead author’s interview with Inos Walter, Chuuk State Legislator, 10 Dec. 2012.

20 Inos Walter, interview with author, 10 Dec. 2012.

21 Peter Christian, ‘FSM Congress Resolution, No. 17-61’, Seventeenth Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia, Second Regular Session, 2011, https://www.cfsm.gov.fm/ifile/17th%20Congress/Resolutions/CR%2017-61.pdf (accessed 26 May 2021).

22 David Panuelo, ‘Where Did Our Real Friends Go?’, Honolulu Civil Beat, 5 April 2012, https://www.civilbeat.org/2011/08/12669-where-did-our-real-friends-go/ (accessed 26 May 2021).

23 Panuelo, ‘Where Did Our Real Friends Go?’. See also the discussion attached to a Micronesian Online Forum post entitled, ‘US Congress Pushes for Limits on FAS Entry to the US’, 8 Aug. 2011, http://www.micronesiaforum.org/index.php?p=/discussion/9045/us-congress-pushes-for-limits-on-fas-entry-to-us (accessed 26 May 2021).

24 On the Kiribati–Soviet Agreement, see David Doulman, ‘The Kiribati–Soviet Union Fishing Agreement’, Pacific Viewpoint 28, no. 1 (1987): 20–39. For recent changes of primary donors by Pacific Island nations, see the chapters by Stewart Firth and Paul D’Arcy on ‘Contemporary Politics of the Pacific Islands’ and ‘Security in the Pacific Islands’ in The Far East and Australasia 2021, ed. Juliet Love (Abingdon: Routledge, 2020), 685–92, 693–701.

25 Dohsis Halbert, ‘FSM Congress Resolution, No. 16-89’, Sixteenth Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia, Fourth Regular Session, 2010, https://www.cfsm.gov.fm/ifile/16th%20Congress/Resolutions/C.R.%2016-89.pdf (accessed 31 May 2021). For Congressional Resolution No.17-61 see note 21 above. See also Jaynes, ‘Senate Appropriations Committee’.

26 Peter Sitan, President of the FSM National Fisheries Corporation, interview with lead author during the Micronesian Symposium, Australian National University, Canberra, 28 April 2014.

27 Giff Johnson, ‘Marshalls Advised to Prepare for End of U.S.’, Pacific Islands Report, 11 May 2010, http://www.pireport.org/articles/2010/05/11/marshalls-advised-prepare-end-us (accessed 26 May 2021).

28 Ibid.

29 See the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003.

30 For further analysis, see Hezel, Is That the Best You Can Do?; D’Arcy, ‘The Role of the Tuna Fishery’. See also the statement made to the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources by David Gootnick, director of the International Affairs and Trade Team of the US Government Accountability Office in mid-2019, GAO, ‘Compacts of Free Association: Trust Funds for Micronesia and the Marshall Islands Are Unlikely to Fully Replace Expiring U.S. Annual Grant Assistance’, 23 July 2019. Available online at https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/700410.pdf (accessed 27 May 2021).

31 The lead author’s work in Congress in 2010 and subsequent interviews with many of the Congressmen and the subsequent adoption of resolutions were good indications of positive engagement with China based on Micronesians’ own understanding of the new global order. See, especially, Lorin Robert, interview with author, 7 Jan. 2011.

32 See Firth and D’Arcy, ‘Security in the Pacific Islands’, 693–701.

33 Thomas Lum, ‘The Freely Associated States and Issues for Congress’, 7 Oct. 2020, Congressional Research Service Report, R46573, https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46573 (accessed 27 May 2021), 6–7.

34 Lorin Robert, interview with author, 7 Jan. 2011.

35 Firth and D’Arcy, ‘Security in the Pacific Islands’, 693–701.

36 Commonly referred to in fisheries and resource management literature as simply IUU fishing.

37 See Francis X. Hezel, Strangers in Their Own Land: A Century of Colonial Rule in the Caroline and Marshall Islands (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1995). For an interesting historical reflection on circumstances of uncertainty, more pertinent than ever as the Compact termination in 2023 looms, see Carl Heine, Micronesia at the Crossroads: A Reappraisal of the Micronesian Political Dilemma (Canberra: ANU Press, 1974).

38 Suzanne Lowe Gallen, ‘Micronesian Sub-Regional Diplomacy’, in The New Pacific Diplomacy, ed. Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte (Canberra: ANU Press, 2015), 175–88.

39 David Hanlon, Making Micronesia: A Political Biography of Tosiwo Nakayama (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2014).

40 Lorin Robert, interview with author; Epel Illon, interview with author, 11 Jan. 2011. Illon was Special Advisor to the Office of Statistics, Budget and Economic Management, Overseas Development Assistance and Compact Management (SBOC) and former Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Palikir, Pohnpei.

41 John Haglelgam, interview with author, 20 Jan. 2011.

42 Olivier Wortel, ‘China Increasing Its Presence in FSM in Big and Small Ways’, The Kaselehlie Press, 7 Feb. 2007, http://www.fm/news/kp/2007/feb07_3.htm (accessed 27 May 2021). The following details on China’s aid programme are based on Wortel’s extended interview with Ambassador Liu Fei.

43 Wortel, ‘China Increasing Its Presence’.

44 R. G. Crocombe, Asia in the Pacific Islands: Replacing the West (Suva: IPS Publications, USP, 2007), 213–20.

45 Yongjin Zhang, ‘A Regional Power by Default: China in the South Pacific’, in China in Oceania: Reshaping the Pacific?, ed. Terence Wesley-Smith and Edgar A. Porter (New York: Berghahn Books, 2010), 60–1.

46 Ibid.

47 See Pacific Institute of Public Policy, ‘Patriot Games: Island Voices in a Sea of Contest’, Discussion Paper 21, June 2012, 2, http://pacificpolicy.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/2012/06/DP21.pdf (accessed 27 May 2021).

48 ‘The FSM President Hu and President Mori Exchange Congratulation Letters to Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of China-FSM Relations’, FSM Information Service Press Release, Palikir, Pohnpei, 1 Sept. 2009.

49 Ibid.

50 Zhang Lianyun, ‘25 Years’ Run Toward Amity and Prosperity: Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relationship Between China and FSM’, The Kaselehlie Press, 9 April 2014, http://www.kpress.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=133:25-years-run-toward-amity-and-prosperity (accessed 27 May 2021).

51 Alexandre Dayant, ‘Follow the Money: How Foreign Aid Spending Tells of Pacific Priorities’, The Interpreter (Lowy Institute), 17 April 2019, https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/follow-money-how-foreign-aid-spending-tells-pacific-priorities (accessed 27 May 2021). For an insightful comment on Chinese aid from a Chinese perspective, see Zhao Hongtu, ‘China’s Overseas Resource Investment: Myths and Realities’, in Pacific Asian Partnerships in Resource Development, ed. Paul D’Arcy, Patrick Matbob, and Linda Crowl (Madang: Divine Word University Press, 2014), 110–21.

52 Yu, ‘The Pacific Islands in China’s Geo-Strategic Thinking’, 89.

53 Denghua Zhang, ‘China’s Diplomacy in the Pacific: Interests, Means and Implications’, Security Challenges 13, no. 2 (2017): 32–53. See also his ‘China in the Pacific and Traditional Powers’ New Pacific Policies: Concerns, Responses and Trends’, Security Challenges 16, no. 1 (2020): 78–93.

54 China’s assistance since it opened diplomatic relation with the FSM is estimated to be a little over US$170 million (compared to more than US$7 billion provided by the United States).

55 US Embassy in the Federated States of Micronesia, ‘Joint Economic Management Committee (JEMCO)’, https://fm.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/policy-history/jemco/ (accessed 27 May 2021).

56 Wortel, ‘China Increasing Its Presence’.

57 The ambassador thought the people of FSM should know more about China than what was reported in the media.

58 Wortel, ‘China Increasing Its Presence’.

59 Zhang, ‘25 Years’ Run Toward Amity’.

60 Ibid.

61 Peter Sitan, interview with author, April 28, 2014. See also Peter Sitan, ‘The Development of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) Tuna Management Regime’, in ‘Micronesia in Focus’, ed. Nic Halter and Gonzaga Puas, special issue, Tamkang Journal of International Affairs 19, no. 2 (2015): 125–66.

62 Zhang, ‘25 Years’ Run Toward Amity’.

63 Philippa Brant, ‘The Geopolitics of Chinese Aid: Mapping Beijing’s Funding in the Pacific’, Lowy Institute, https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/geopolitics-chinese-aid (accessed 27 May 2021).

64 Wortel, ‘China Increasing Its Presence in FSM’.

65 Donald Rubinstein and Clement Yow Mulalap, ‘“Yap Paradise Island”: A Chinese Company’s Proposal for Building a 10,000-Room Mega-Resort Casino Complex’, Micronesian Area Research Center (MARC) Occasional Seminar, University of Guam, 8 May 2014, 2–3; Ben Bohane, ‘Chinese Company Seeks to Build “Mega Resort” on Remote Micronesian Island of Yap’, ABC News, 2 May 2016, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-02/chinese-company-seeks-to-build-mega-resort-on-island-of-yap/7300588 (accessed 27 May 2021); Sasha Davis, Lexi A. Munger, and Hannah J. Legacy, ‘Someone Else’s Chain, Someone Else’s Road: U.S. Military Strategy, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Island Agency in the Pacific’, Island Studies Journal 15, no. 2 (2020): 24–7; Scott Leis, ‘Micronesia’s Future between China and the US’, East Asia Forum, June 16, 2012, https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2012/06/16/micronesia-s-future-between-china-and-the-us (accessed 27 May 2021).

66 Rubinstein and Mulalap, ‘“Yap Paradise Island”’, 1–2.

67 Bohane, ‘Chinese Company Seeks to Build’.

68 Rubinstein and Mulalap, ‘“Yap Paradise Island”’, 4–8; Davis, Munger, and Legacy, ‘Someone Else’s Chain’, 29.

69 Rubinstein and Mulalap, ‘“Yap Paradise Island”’, 8.

70 Ibid., 2–3.

71 Davis, Munger, and Legacy, ‘Someone Else’s Chain’, 24.

72 Haglelgam, interview with author.

73 Illon elaborated further on the importance of China to the FSM economically, noting that it could buy up the entirety of the FSM’s export commodities in one hour. The role of partnering with the FSM private sector was also emphasized. Illon, interview with author.

74 ‘Pohnpei Governor Ehsa Declares a State of Emergency as Ping Da 7 Begins to Leak Oil’, FSM Public Information Office, 22 Jan. 2014, https://www.fsmgov.org/press/pr01221c.htm (accessed 27 May 2021).

75 See Fry and Tarte, eds, The New Pacific Diplomacy. On South Pacific nations’ sustainable ocean priorities see Pacific Islands Forum, ‘The 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent’, https://www.forumsec.org/pacific-regionalism/ (accessed 27 May 2021); Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner, Blue Pacific Ocean Report 2021: A Report by the Pacific Ocean Commissioner to the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders (Suva: OPAC, 2021).

76 See The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), ‘AR6 Climate Change 2021: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability’, https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-ii/ (accessed 27 May 2021); Johann D. Bell et al., Climate Change and Pacific Island Food Systems: The Future of Food, Farming and Fishing in the Pacific Islands under a Changing Climate (Copenhagen: CCAFS and CTA, 2016), https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/79049/retrieve (accessed 27 May 2021).

77 Pacific Islands Forum, ‘The 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent’.

78 Micah S. Muscolino, ‘Fishing and Whaling’, in A Companion to Global Environmental History, ed. J. R. McNeill and Erin Stewart (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2014), 286–87.

79 See Hongzhou Zhang and Fengshi Wu, ‘China’s Marine Fishery and Global Ocean Governance’, Global Policy 8, no. 2 (2017): 216–26.

80 Xuepeng Li et al., ‘Aquaculture Industry in China: Current State, Challenges, and Outlook’, Reviews in Fisheries Science 19, no. 3 (2011): 187–200.

81 Uentabo Neemia, pers. comm., Macquarie University, Sept. 1992; Doulman, ‘The Kiribati–Soviet Union Fishing Agreement’.

82 Christopher Pala, ‘Kiribati’s President Plans to Raise Islands in Fight Against Sea-level Rise’, The Guardian, 10 Aug. 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/10/kiribatis-presidents-plans-to-raise-islands-in-fight-against-sea-level-rise (accessed 27 May 2021). See also Steve Raaymakers, ‘China Expands Its Island-Building Strategy Into the Pacific’, The Strategist (Australian Strategic Policy Institute), 11 Sept. 2020, https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/china-expands-its-island-building-strategy-into-the-pacific/ (accessed 27 May 2021).