The foreign ministers of India, the United States, Australia and Japan have announced plans to jointly develop port infrastructure in Fiji, a strategically important Pacific island nation, following their meeting in New Delhi earlier this week.
Their grouping, called the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue alliance – or Quad, for short – has worked over the past two decades as a counter force to China’s economic and political influence in the Asia Pacific region. China, in turn, has said groupings should “not target any third party”, and Beijing opposes “engaging in bloc confrontation”.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong hailed the initiative in Fiji as the strongest commitment to deliver high-quality infrastructure that the Quad has made in the Pacific region. She said a pilot for port infrastructure in Fiji reflects the group’s ability to deliver high-quality infrastructure in response to Pacific priorities.
As the grouping faces questions about its relevance in today’s world order, and US President Donald Trump has been wooing China, Washington has pivoted away from the region as its top priority in favour of the Western Hemisphere and the Middle East.
So, what is the significance of a port development in Fiji? And could this be the next flashpoint in the up-and-down relationship between the US and China? Suva, the capital, is already the largest and busiest port of the country. Lautoka, which was historically established around sugar exports, sits in the northwest of Fiji, in the second-largest city.
“It will have to be the two major ones,” Sakiasi Ditoka told the Fijian press, referring to Suva and Lautoka. “And then eventually we’ll probably spread it around – maybe Vanua Levu if you look north, and then maybe Levuka if the project goes that far.”
However, there are as yet very few specific details about plans for the ports.
The Suva port agency, 41 percent of which is owned by Fiji’s government, has discussed $181m of port upgrades, as well as a potential $1.82bn plan to relocate Suva Port, with the US officials, Fijian media reported this week.
Suresh Prasad, the Fiji Ports acting chief executive officer who said he was “rather surprised” by the announcement, told reporters: “If it’s a Quad project, it is going to be a mega project, which is Suva Port most likely.”
In 2023, Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka discussed the redevelopment of the Suva port with China, but plans for that did not materialise.
Rabuka told the Fijian parliament this Monday about an agreement to undertake a study for potential US-backed infrastructure with the US Millennium Challenge Corporation, Washington’s foreign aid agency, adding that any project would be funded by grants, not loans.
What does the Quad do in the Asia Pacific?
The four Quad countries are the most influential powers in the region outside of Russia and China.
The Quad’s area of cooperation has expanded beyond its original security-focused outlook and now stretches to a wide range of Asia Pacific initiatives for maritime security, infrastructure, technology, health and supply chains.
The grouping also operates the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), which helps Pacific countries monitor illegal fishing, smuggling and other maritime activity with the use of satellite data. It cooperates on facilitating supply chains for lithium, rare-earth minerals and other strategic minerals to reduce dependence on China, alongside cooperation on quantum computing and cybersecurity.
Fiji has traditionally been aligned with Australia, and the Quad countries have pledged cooperation on disaster relief, climate resilience and humanitarian assistance to smaller Pacific islands.
Quad countries also hold joint military exercises under the annual Malabar Exercise in the region, including anti-submarine warfare, aircraft carrier operations and maritime interoperability.
Source: here
