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CSIS Pacific Partners Initiative

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CSIS Pacific Partners Initiative

Premier Forum for sustained high level policy dialogue focusing on Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Island Countries and US interests in the region.

The Pacific Partners Initiative at CSIS is a premier forum for a sustained and high level policy dialogue focusing on Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island Countries and US interests in the region.

09/02/2016

7.1 quake off northeastern New Zealand's coast causes some property damage, but no reported injuries: cs.is/2c9Zz2K

On September 2, a 7.1 earthquake struck New Zealand at 105 miles northeast of the city of Gisborne. The quake was followed by a series of large aftershocks. Residents across North Island reportedly felt the quake at around 04:37 am local time; despite some property damage, no injuries have been reported.

Regarding tsunami threats, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii has identified only a small wave eight inches in height.

Residents of the Tolaga Bay were asked by authorities to leave their homes. The area, however, was now declared safe to return, though residents were still advised to stay away from beaches, streams, and estuaries owing to a persistent tsunami threat.

[Photo: Tolaga Bay, New Zealand. The bay's residents were asked to leave their homes following a 7.1 earthquake that struck New Zealand at 105 miles to the northeast of Gisborne. Image courtesy of Ulrich Lange, Dunedin. Source: Wikimedia. Licensed under creative commons.]

09/02/2016

Australia's majority govt suffers first lower house vote loss in 5 decades: cs.is/2bXidfa

Australia’s majority government on September 2 lost a vote – the first in five decades – in three divisions in the House of Representatives in the 45th Parliament's first sitting week.

Australia's opposition, the Labor Party, had taken advantage of the premature departure of several Coalition members to win the vote on three procedural matters in Parliament. With the Coalition’s slight majority in the House slashed, Labor gained control over its debates and successfully pushed for a discussion of the party’s proposal for a banking royal commission.

Reacting to the loss, treasurer Scott Morrison decried Labor leader Bill Shorten’s exploitation of the government’s slight majority to Labor’s advantage. In response, Labor maintained its resolve to continue testing the government's majority and even taunted the ruling Coalition with the prospect of a future no-confidence motion.

[Photo: the Australian Parliament in the House of Representatives at Parliament House, Canberra. The Labor Party seized an opportunity to win a vote in three divisions in the House of Representatives against the ruling Coalition in its ongoing attempt to challenge the government's slight majority. Image courtesy of Pete Souza. Source: Wikimedia. Part of the public domain.]

09/01/2016

Australia changes legislation to facilitate targeting of Islamic State forces.
http://cs.is/2bFQoHK

On September 1, Chief of the Defense Force Mark Binskin said that Australian legislation will be changed to be aligned more closely with international law, easing concerns that Australian Defence Force service members could be prosecuted for actions that, while legal in international law, were originally illegal under Australian law.

Australia’s domestic law currently authorizes targeting of active Islamic State fighters, limiting operational effectiveness. Once changed, the legislation will authorize defense forces to target logistics and support sites. Australia has been conducting air strikes against the Islamic State since for almost two years.

[Royal Australian Air Force F/A 18F Super Hornet, courtesy of Wikimedia user Bidgee, licensed under creative commons.]

09/01/2016

The latest issue of Southeast Asia from Scott Circle is available. http://cs.is/2bMey0x

Senior adviser and deputy director Murray Hiebert and associate fellow Phuong Nguyen offer a roadmap for strengthening U.S. relations with Myanmar prior to Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to the United States on September 13-14.

Beginning with the establishment of an annual strategic dialogue, the authors further encourage empowering U.S. government agencies to assist Myanmar in policymaking, technical assistance, and educational opportunities to facilitate economic growth. In addition to economic capacity building, the authors also recommend limited military engagement in order to foster respect for civilian control of Myanmar’s military.

[President Barack Obama and Aung San Suu Kyi address international media during his visit to Myanmar in November 2014, courtesy of the U.S. government, public domain.]

08/31/2016

Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark remains committed in UN race: cs.is/2bQkXwy

Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, intends to continue in the race to become the next UN secretary general following the results of a third ballot. In the August 30 ballot, Clark was polled 7th out of 10 candidates, which reflects neither a jump up or down in the rankings since the second ballot. Ms. Clark said she is satisfied with her ability to hold the same position and that it gives her fuel to continue her campaign.

She also thanked current New Zealand prime minister John Key and foreign minister Murray McCully for their continued support throughout the process. "I don't have any plan B scenario...You just take each phase at a time and just calibrate around that," Ms. Clark added.

CSIS on July 13 hosted Helen Clark for a Statesmen's Forum, where she discussed her candidacy for the UN secretary general position and outlined priority areas for reform. Clark's remarks can be viewed at the following link: http://cs.is/29luXsr

[Image: Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, with current prime minister John Key. Ms. Clark on August 30 vocalized her appreciation for the support prime minister Key has offered in her bid for UN secretary general. Image courtesy of the United Nations Development Programme, Wikimedia. Licensed under creative commons.]

08/31/2016

Former prime minister Paul Keating says Australia is lacking in foreign policy: cs.is/2bQieTS

Australia's former prime minister Paul Keating on August 30 said the country requires a more robust and comprehensive foreign policy to negotiate the rise of China. Speaking at the Australia-China relations institute at Sydney's University of Technology, the prime minister suggested that Australia needs and deserves a "nuanced foreign policy which does take account of these big seismic shifts in the world. And we can't ever be caught up in some containment policy of China ... to assist the Americans in trying to preserve strategic hegemony in Asia and the Pacific."

Mr. Keating also said that Australia should be pressuring the United States to adopt a more "balancing and conciliating" role in the Asia-Pacific region and that strategic hegemony is not sustainable. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull shot down Mr. Keating's judgment and insisted that Australia's international influence is at an all time high due to growing economic power and "increasing strategic commitments" around the world.

[Image: Paul Keating, former prime minister of Australia. In recent remarks, Mr. Keating was highly critical of Australia's waning influence on the global stage. Image courtesy of Idpercy, Wikimedia. Licensed under creative commons.]

08/30/2016

The CSIS Southeast Asia Program is pleased to present The United States and Myanmar: Next Steps on Tuesday, September 13, 2016. RSVP for this event at cs.is/2bPu7th

Taking place the day before Aung San Suu Kyi’s historic first visit to Washington as Myanmar’s state counsellor and foreign minister, the conference will explore the country’s ongoing democratic transition and the potential for greater U.S. engagement.

CSIS will feature a keynote address from Ben Rhodes, Assistant to the President, and two panels of expert speakers from Myanmar and the United States. The first panel will review the opportunities and challenges facing economic growth in Myanmar, including the impact of remaining U.S. sanctions and the future of U.S.-Myanmar economic cooperation. The second panel will focus on Myanmar’s political and security transition, civil-military relations, the peace process, and Buddhist-Muslim communal relations in Rakhine state.

[Photo: President Barack Obama sits with Myanmar state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, then leader of the opposition National League for Democracy, in the Oval Office on September 19, 2012. Image courtesy of Pete Souza. Source: Official White House Photo. Part of the public domain.]

08/30/2016

Closing of geothermal power project may cost Australia non-conventional energy source: cs.is/2byDg99

Australian energy firm Geodynamics has shut down several test sites and generation plants in Australia’s south, recognizing that its geothermal power project is not financially viable.

Professor Martin Hand at the University of Adelaide said that Australia possesses unique geological features – such as large swaths of hot crust – that are conducive to generating geothermal power. This decision, therefore, might cost the country a potential non-conventional energy source. There are 46 countries producing significant geothermal energy from conventional systems — those near geysers and volcanic manifestations, for instance.

Geodynamics' chief executive Craig Wilkins admitted that new sources of energy require significant initial public funding. Once new energy sources are given a start, he said, “the cost curve quickly reduces.”

[Photo: A continental-scale interpretation of Australia's temperature field at 3.1 miles below the earth's surface. The large hot swaths within the Australian crust indicates the country's enormous geothermal potential. Image courtesy of Geoscience Australia. Source: Wikimedia. Used under a creative common license.]

08/29/2016

Pacific countries aim to sign free trade agreement with Australia and New Zealand by end of year: http://cs.is/2bwrkjd

Pacific island nations are looking to sign the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus by the end of 2016. The PACER-Plus, a regional trade and economic agreement connecting 16 Pacific countries, is expected to create jobs, boost private sector growth, improve living standards, and promote economic growth in Forum Islands countries. PACER-Plus negotiations began in 2009 and talks on the legal text of the agreement were concluded last week. Last week’s special trade ministers meeting also saw parties commit to finalizing negotiations on market access by late October so that the agreement can be signed at the end of the year.

New Zealand’s trade minister Todd McClay acknowledged the progress being made and said he believes PACER-Plus is the “very best way to help these [Pacific] economies grow.” However, not all parties have accepted the agreement. A petition calling for the suspension of any decision on the deal was put forward last week. Papua New Guinea also withdrew from the trade deal in early August and concerns were voiced by Fiji ahead of last week’s meeting.

[Photo: Atoll Island, Aitutaki, Cook Islands. 16 Pacific nations, including the Cook Islands, will look to wrap up the PACER-Plus regional trade agreement by the end of the year. Image courtesy of Christina Spicuzza, flickr. Licensed under creative commons].

08/29/2016

Australian government computer networks penetrated in Chinese-sponsored cyber attacks: http://cs.is/2btaBQX

Australian government and corporate computer networks containing top secret plans for a geostationary communications satellite have been infiltrated by cyber attacks sponsored by China, an August 29 Four Corners investigation has revealed. It was also reported that Austrade and the Department of Defense’s research division have also suffered from a number of sophisticated cyber attacks by Chinese hackers in the past five years.

Three years ago, Australian satellite company Newsat Ltd. had to reconstruct its entire network in secret after being targeted in a comprehensive Chinese-linked cyber attack. Former Newsat IT manager Daryl Peters said plans for a Lockheed martin-designed satellite nicknamed Jabiru-1 was the likely target of the breach. However, these incidents only scrape the surface of the actual number of cyber attacks launched against the Australian government. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s cyber security adviser, Alastair MacGibbon, told Four Corners that the government experiences attacks on a “daily basis”, but not all incidents are revealed publicly.

[Photo: Cloud security. An August 29 investigation has revealed the extent of Chinese-linked cyber attacks on Australian and corporate networks. Image courtesy of Blue Coat Photos, flickr. Licensed under creative commons]

08/26/2016

New Zealand and Australia announce joint funding for Pacific Island countries: http://cs.is/2bugOLg

New Zealand and Australia announced that they would provide 5.8 million dollars to facilitate Pacific Island countries implementation of the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus agreement. Representatives from 16 countries met in New Zealand on August 26 to negotiate the final terms of the PACER Plus agreement. New Zealand Minister Todd McClay stated that the representatives intend to finalize the agreement by the end of October 2016.

Participating countries include: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.

[Photo: New Zealand Minister of Trade Todd McClay, courtesy of Wikimedia user Hermo48, licensed under creative commons.]

08/26/2016

Australian defense officials warn DCNS after security leak: http://cs.is/2bM68tO

Following a 22,000 page leak detailing the Scorpène-class submarines being built for India, Australian defense officials warned DCNS that the Australian government was troubled by the implications of the leak. The leak detailed sensitive information, including information on the sensor, navigation, and weapons systems of the Scorpène India models.

Earlier this week, Australian Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne was reported to have said that the leaks have "no bearing" on the Australian submarine program. In April 2016, DCNS won an $38 million dollar bid to build 12 submarines for the Australian government. DCNS claimed that the leaks showed signs of "economic warfare", implying it was carried out by competitors. Industry experts called the allegation hysterical and likely an attempt to deflect attention away from DCNS.

[Photo: Malaysian submarine Tunku Abdul Rahman at Port Klang in September 2009. The KD Tunku Abdul Rahman is a Scorpène-class submarine, similar to the ones that were exposed in the DCNS data leak for Scorpène India, image courtesy of Wikimedia user Mak Hon Keong, licensed under creative commons.]

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