Politics: 2008 ANOTHER US YEAR OF THE PACIFIC?

A year of opportunities, dialogue, partnership: Davies

Duncan Wilson
The US-Pacific relationship in 2008 should bring big gains in trade, business and development issues, according to the United States’ key official for the Pacific, Glyn Davies.

Glyn Davies (right)... caught the Pacific bug at the beginning of his career.
But for the deputy assistant secretary of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, first posted to the Pacific at the tender age of 22, “the number one thing” for “Uncle Sam, America” in its relationship with the Pacific Islands this year is to listen, “keep this dialogue up, keep it respectful and continue to talk to each other”.

Davies says Pacific leaders’ criticisms of Washington’s apparent “disengagement,” aired at the Capitol Hill conference last May, furthered the superpower’s resolve to strengthen regional engagement.

But Davies, whose presentation at the US House subcommittee spurred the US to make 2007 the Year of the Pacific, emphasises that his country is committed for the long-haul to a “step change in the relationship”.

“It wasn’t just a one off big bang approach to engaging the Pacific. We wanted it to be the beginning of something. That’s why the 'Year of the Pacific’ became a little bit of a misnomer. It wasn’t just one year and then America goes back to its corner and the Pacific goes back in its corner. The idea was to step it up and keep it up—keep up the relationship.”

Davies can outline a range of ways the US and Pacific Islands can work “hand-in-hand” to strengthen their relationship. One of the more obvious opportunities might be in Guam, the new base for the 8000 US Marines transferred from Okinawa in Japan.

Along with the relocation of their families, total personnel may reach 20,000. This will involve one of the military’s largest construction projects since World War Two, Davies says.

It will also present “massive” opportunities for the Pacific Islands, not simply in construction and infrastructure but also, in the longer-term, services in tourism, hospitality, and education.

The transfer could require 12,000 to 18,000 construction workers over several years, and Davies is encouraging Pacific Islands companies to become involved.

“What we want to do is see if we can hook in to the Pacific Islands and maybe even create some vocational opportunities so that a percentage of these jobs can be sort of channelled to the Pacific Islands. That is a big opportunity given the economies of scale for those islands to train people up and provide talent for that project and beyond.

“Beyond that, the presence of 20,000 or so Americans is going to lead to tourism opportunities, to opportunities for the provision of services in education, health care (and) servicemen hospitality.”

At the Washington conference last year, Davies says, Guam featured in discussions among US and Pacific Islands political leaders and American businesses.

But Davies says that conference also canvassed other economic opportunities for the two regions to pursue this year and beyond.

“The idea of having the conference of leaders here in Washington for the first time ever was to begin to expose [Pacific Islands leaders] to some of the people and some of the sources of information so that they can then take that back to their own governments and begin to hook in to this information flow and in turn take advantage of it.”

Davies says that any exporter to the US can find it difficult to keep abreast of that market’s complex system of quotas and tariffs.

This year will see further promotion of opportunities in the US and information on mechanisms such as the Generalised System of Preferences, to ensure Pacific enterprises can tap in to that market.

Davies says 2008 should be a year of “opportunities,” “partnership” and “dialogue” for the US and the Pacific Islands. He is adamant the relationship will not be plotted by one country and refrains from talking about any ‘expectations’ the United States might have of the region.

“I don’t see it as we ‘expect’ Pacific Islanders to do things...The number one thing is just to keep this dialogue up, keep it respectful and continue to talk to each other.

“But what the US hopes for our partners in the Pacific is very similar to what we’re looking to achieve with others around the world and we want to try and provide resources and help to the extent that we can.”

Davies says the US is keen to boost its work with Pacific partners on regional challenges in health, environment and natural resources such as fishing stocks.

This work will range from a summit on diabetes, for instance, to measures for protecting coastal areas from the effects of natural disasters and climate change. The US will also work on the collection and storage of crops resistant to saline.

The breadth of work typifies the United States “whole of government” approach that Davies promoted in front of the US House subcommittee last year.

He said such an approach would “expand our engagement and reverse any perception that the US has withdrawn from the Pacific”.

“We continue to seek available opportunities to increase our engagement with the leaders and citizens of the Pacific Islands and respond to their concerns,” Davies also said in March.

“America’s involvement in the Pacific remains crucial to our national security as we are and will remain a Pacific power.”

Although Davies then voiced concern at China and Taiwan’s diplomatic battle for recognition, he now says there are positive signs that transparency and accountability may slowly be winning over “chequebook diplomacy”:

“China when it comes to these development challenges increasingly understands that simply writing cheques ultimately is not really down to their benefit. I think they’re getting more sophisticated about it.

“We’re talking to them about it...and the Chinese are listening. And we’re having the same types of conversations with officials from Taiwan because part of the problem has been this competition between the two and that can sometimes have destructive results.”

Australia will remain a close and an important ally, Davies confirms. He says the two nations’ regional engagement is “strongly congruent,” although at times bears differences of “nuance”.

This is unlikely to change with the electoral defeat of Bush’s regional ‘sheriff’ and the new Australian Labor Government.

“We’re going to continue to have a close collaborative relationship with Canberra and with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and his cabinet is committed, we took them at their word.

“What’s been done has been on a bipartisan basis as far as we can tell in Australia. So naturally, we will have different shadings but the fundamentals, what it is we’re all about, we’re on the same place—good governance, transparency, helping development and stability—all of those fundamental principles.”

But Australia looks set to be but one partner among many in the region, as Davies plots his nation’s part in the US-Pacific partnership for 2008. For an American diplomat, whose career began in the South Pacific, Davies appears to be ensuring his country’s engagement with the Pacific is as enduring and sincere as his affections for the region.

“Our first love is always our strongest,” Davies says.

“I caught the bug, the Pacific bug, at the beginning of my career...and though I got off site in northern Europe for many, many years, I’ve come back now to the Pacific. It’s a personal interest I have.”

With Davies at the helm, 2008 may well witness a further “step change in the relationship,” another (albeit untitled) ‘Year of the Pacific’.

Article from Islands Business Magazine, Feb Issue: (original article)