Pacific island states are trapped in Cold War 2.0

In early July, China fired a test missile from a nuclear submarine into the South Pacific for the first time, a weapon capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Washington and Canberra were livid. The Pacific has long been the exclusive testing ground for such long-range missiles from the United States. How dare China!The reaction from Pacific island states was more measured. While leaders from Tuvalu, Palau and the Solomon Islands strongly criticised the test, the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) failed to draft a united statement. Last month, foreign ministers again failed to agree on criticising Beijing, with Kiribati and Nauru reportedly refusing.Finally, this month, a PIF statement that “registered concern on the recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test” was issued. China was not named, and Nauru disassociated itself.Kiribati previously said singling out China was unfair when the US regularly tested such missiles near the Marshall Islands. In March, the US launched a Minuteman III ICBM from California, landing near the Marshall Islands 6,700km away; it followed a similar test in November last year. The US has test-fired at least 15 ballistic missiles into the Pacific since 2021.The historical precedent weighs heavily. Between 1946 and 1996, the US, Britain and France conducted over 300 nuclear tests in the Pacific, particularly in French Polynesia and the Marshall Islands, resulting in radioactive contamination, mass displacement, high cancer rates and generational trauma. The double standard is glaring.Geopolitically, the region resembles a feudal hierarchy: small island nations as vassal states, Australia and New Zealand as local lords, and the US as king.