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AllAfrica
10-07-2025
- Business
- AllAfrica
It's time for a US Indo-Pacific reset
As the recent struggle to pass a budget for the US government illustrates, yet again, the immutable reality of limited fiscal resources, it's time to reconsider America's vital national interests in the Indo-Pacific and maintain a laser-like focus on safeguarding its territories in the Pacific. The United States is a Pacific power with significant territorial reach: the states of Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii; the inhabited territories of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa; as well as eight uninhabited islands. In addition, via Compacts of Free Association, the US has three protectorates: Republic of Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Federated States of Micronesia. Accordingly, President Donald Trump should clearly delineate a geostrategically coherent Pacific Region security envelope that encompasses these territories and stretches in an arc from Alaska to Palau to Cape Horn at the southern tip of the Americas. In effect, such a Trump Doctrine framing a Pacific Region security envelope would be a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (which acknowledged the Americas as a vital national interest). Correspondingly, President Trump should also announce the intention of the United States to terminate, in a phased manner over the remainder of his term, the existing burdensome security arrangements with countries in the Indo-Pacific region that fall outside the recalibrated Pacific Region security envelope: Taiwan, New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan and Australia. These countries should adjust to the emerging multipolar world and assume the responsibility for making their own independent security arrangements to safeguard their vital national interests. Manifestly, American security guarantees have allowed these countries to neglect their own defense needs. The United States cannot afford to bear the cost of strategic altruism to the detriment of its vital national interests. Washington relies on debt to bridge the gap between insufficient revenues and excessive expenditures and is careening recklessly towards a fiscal meltdown. In Fiscal Year 2024 the US government had total debt outstanding of $35.46 trillion, which is far greater than the size of the country's economy. Interest payments now exceed defense spending. Almost 14 years ago, Admiral Michael G. Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned Congress: 'I believe our debt is the greatest threat to our national security.' He added, '[W]e have not been forced to be fully disciplined in our choices …. We must now carefully and deliberately balance the imperatives of a constrained budget environment with the requirements we place on our military in sustaining and enhancing our security.' Instead of heeding Admiral Mullen's prudent advice, America's decisionmakers continue to ignore the need to recalibrate and prioritize vital national interests to align them better with realistically available financial resources. Fiscal discipline and strategic discipline are inextricably linked. Just as a lack of financial discipline leads to ballooning debt, a lack of strategic discipline leads to mushrooming security burdens under the cloak of strategic ambiguity. So, without realizing that the US approach of strategic ambiguity to address the threat posed by China is tantamount to strategic profligacy, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in his speech at the 2025 Shangri-La Dialogue unwittingly described what the unintended result would be for Washington rather than Beijing: 'More dilemmas, more complications, more questions, more concerns, more variables, more reasons to say, 'It's not worth it'.' While strategic ambiguity may be useful for strategic flexibility, it is not a panacea. The key to strategic discipline is strategic clarity. It is essential to identify which vital national interest of the United States is put at risk by an increasingly powerful China. A vital national interest must be existential in nature – something for which the country is willing to go to war using all the power available, including nuclear weapons. Surely the paramount vital national interest of the United States must be safeguarding its territorial integrity. In the Pacific, the most vulnerable inhabited US territories are American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas. Beijing is playing a brilliant game of Go to outflank these territories, which are integral parts of the United States. China has growing security arrangements with the Cook Islands, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. From a geostrategic perspective, American Samoa's defensive position is precarious: the Cook Islands are about 824 miles to the southeast, Fiji is about 836 miles to the southwest, and the Solomon Islands are about 2000 miles to the northwest. By contrast, Hawaii (the closest US state with significant military capabilities) is about 2,585 miles north of American Samoa. Safeguarding Taiwan, New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan and Australia from China is an unnecessary security burden and does not enhance the ability of the US to safeguard any of its Pacific territories. It's time for an Indo-Pacific reset and refocus on US vital national interests. Samir Tata is founder and president of International Political Risk Analytics, an advisory firm based in Reston, Virginia, USA, and author of the book Reflections on Grand Strategy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).
Voice of America
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Greenlanders explore Pacific Islands' relationship with Washington
Greenland's representative in the United States met recently with at least one ambassador from the Pacific Islands to learn more about a political arrangement that some think could create an opportunity for the Arctic island and Washington, VOA has learned. President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his interest in either buying or taking control of Greenland, a resource-rich semiautonomous territory of Denmark, noting its strategic importance and position in the Arctic Ocean where Russia and China are rapidly advancing. But there has been pushback from the island's residents, political leaders, Denmark and Europe. Greenland representatives have declined to comment to VOA on their meeting that focused on a framework that Pacific Island nations have with Washington — known as the Compacts of Free Association, or COFA. The compacts give the United States military access to three strategic Pacific Islands — the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau — in exchange for economic aid. Jackson Soram, ambassador to the United States from the Federated States of Micronesia, told VOA that the discussions took place at the end of January and focused on "basic questions" on the "provisions of economic assistance, and also the security and defense provisions of the compacts." Soram said he met with representatives from Greenland and the Faroe Islands, another self-ruled Danish territory. Alexander Gray, a former National Security Council chief of staff during the first Trump administration who worked on Pacific Island issues, told VOA he encouraged the Pacific Islands' ambassadors to conduct these meetings. "[The Greenlanders] want independence from Denmark," Gray, who is now a managing partner of American Global Strategies, said in an emailed response. "An independent Greenland, with a tiny population and the second-least densely populated geography on the planet, will quickly become dominated and its sovereignty undermined by Beijing and Moscow." Russia has been reopening bases in the region even as Beijing has invested more than $90 billion in infrastructure projects in the Arctic Circle. Both the United States and Denmark have military bases in Greenland. Gray said arctic dominance by Moscow and Beijing poses "a unique strategic threat" to the United States. He said a COFA "would allow Greenland to maintain its sovereignty, while allowing the U.S. to ensure that sovereignty is truly protected." Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has repeatedly told Trump that Greenland is "not for sale." But Monday, she said Copenhagen welcomes additional U.S. military investment in the strategic island. "So, if this is about securing our part of the world, we can find a way forward," she said. US-Greenland defense agreement Some analysts say that neither Washington nor Nuuk needs a COFA agreement to increase the U.S. military presence in Greenland. In 2004, the United States, Greenland and Denmark signed the Igaliku Agreement to reduce the U.S. military presence in Greenland to a single air base, the Thule Air Base, which has been renamed Pitfuffik Space Base. It provides Washington with missile defense and space surveillance. The 2004 agreement provides for "any significant changes to U.S. military operations or facilities" in Greenland to be made through consultation between Washington, Nuuk and Copenhagen. "Washington can already achieve its objectives through working with Greenland and Denmark," Otto Svendsen, an associate fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote last month on CSIS's website. A Danish Institute for International Studies policy brief in 2022 pointed out that COFA has created economic dependence between the Marshall Islands and the United States, as U.S. donor money makes up 70% of the Marshall Islands' total GDP. This is the opposite of what Greenland's leaders say they want. Search for independence A 2009 law called the Act on Greenland Self-Government outlines a "road map" —-drawn up by Nuuk and Copenhagen — for an independent Greenland, which requires a successful referendum. In his New Year's address, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede said, "The upcoming new election period must, together with the citizens, create these new steps," opening the door for a referendum during parliamentary elections in April. A 2019 survey suggested that more than two-thirds of Greenlanders want independence at some point. Yet in a poll released in January by two newspapers in Denmark and Greenland, 85% say they do not want to be part of the United States. Fifty-five percent, however, see Trump's interest in Greenland as an opportunity. Gray told VOA that the U.S., Denmark and Greenland should enter trilateral discussions for a compact. "Working together, Washington, Copenhagen, and Nuuk can find common ground and move forward on a post-independence arrangement that works for all parties," he said in an emailed response. As far back as 2010, Greenland told the United Nations it was exploring the idea of negotiating independence through a "free association" with Denmark. Egede said he is ready to meet with Trump, but, "We do not want to be Danes. We do not want to be Americans." Soram said he is trying to get ambassadors from Palau and the Marshall Islands to attend additional meetings with Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Denmark.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Marshall Islands seek US meeting as citizens 'panic' over Trump migrant crackdown
By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Marshall Islands has warned citizens living in the U.S. not to open the door to immigration officials without a judicial warrant, amid fears the community is being caught in President Donald Trump's crackdown on undocumented migrants, an official said. The Marshall Islands is among three Pacific Island nations whose citizens have the right to live and work in the United States under Compacts of Free Association (COFA) that also give the U.S. military access to swathes of ocean seen as strategic by Washington amid tensions with China. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. The three COFA states, which also include Palau and Federated States of Micronesia, are seeking a joint meeting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) next week, a Marshall Islands foreign ministry spokesman said, amid community "panic" after families were questioned by ICE officers in the town of Springdale, Arkansas. More than 10,000 Marshallese live legally in Springdale, the spokesman said, and do not require visas but show Marshall Islands passports and a form when they start jobs or enter school. The Marshall Islands government issued a letter on Facebook on Tuesday with emergency contact details for citizens living in the U.S. to show ICE officials, after video of armed officers entering homes in Springdale circulated on social media. A community news service reported Marshallese were also being questioned at work in the town. "We are working day and night to make sure our citizens are safe - the consulate in Arkansas is informing them of their rights and not to open the door unless there is a warrant," the Marshall Islands spokesman said in a telephone interview, confirming the incidents. Two families "were not aware of their rights and they opened the door and they were questioned", he said. ICE have since "stopped doing that", he added, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kalani Kaneko will hold a Zoom briefing for Marshallese living in the U.S. on Saturday. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security and U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. The Federated States of Micronesia issued a statement also urging citizens in the U.S. to carry documents with them as evidence of their lawful status.
Reuters
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Marshall Islands seek US meeting as citizens 'panic' over Trump migrant crackdown
SYDNEY, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The Marshall Islands has warned citizens living in the U.S. not to open the door to immigration officials without a judicial warrant, amid fears the community is being caught in President Donald Trump's crackdown on undocumented migrants, an official said. The Marshall Islands is among three Pacific Island nations whose citizens have the right to live and work in the United States under Compacts of Free Association (COFA) that also give the U.S. military access to swathes of ocean seen as strategic by Washington amid tensions with China. The three COFA states, which also include Palau and Federated States of Micronesia, are seeking a joint meeting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) next week, a Marshall Islands foreign ministry spokesman said, amid community "panic" after families were questioned by ICE officers in the town of Springdale, Arkansas. More than 10,000 Marshallese live legally in Springdale, the spokesman said, and do not require visas but show Marshall Islands passports and a form when they start jobs or enter school. The Marshall Islands government issued a letter on Facebook on Tuesday with emergency contact details for citizens living in the U.S. to show ICE officials, after video of armed officers entering homes in Springdale circulated on social media. A community news service reported Marshallese were also being questioned at work in the town. "We are working day and night to make sure our citizens are safe - the consulate in Arkansas is informing them of their rights and not to open the door unless there is a warrant," the Marshall Islands spokesman said in a telephone interview, confirming the incidents. Two families "were not aware of their rights and they opened the door and they were questioned", he said. ICE have since "stopped doing that", he added, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kalani Kaneko will hold a Zoom briefing for Marshallese living in the U.S. on Saturday. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security and U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. The Federated States of Micronesia issued a statement also urging citizens in the U.S. to carry documents with them as evidence of their lawful status.
