Pacific Islands: New Dimension to U.S.-China Power Struggles

The island states of the Pacific – from large Papua New Guinea to the smaller island state of Tuvalu – find themselves in a newly influential position as the West and China battle for their strategic backing. Their negotiating strength may give them more power to attract international aid to tackle the biggest threat to the region – climate change. Failing to keep global warming to below a 1.5-degree increase is likely to mean the Pacific island nations experience more frequent climate and weather-induced disasters, and increased inundation of atolls, islands and homes from rising seas. For the past 15-20…