Sunday, 14 March 2010

• Australia & NZ Joint Rapid Reaction Task Force to securitize Asia Pacific

   
  

  In the End ANZ have our interests at heart and will be there to pick up the pieces for us if Frank the Tin Pot is not too arrogant.

  
  'WE USED to talk about the 'Pacific Way', which was seen as a means of doing things through dialogue and discussion,' said New Zealand Defence Minister Wayne Mapp of the region's way of addressing its security. 'The contemporary approach is starting to become more organised.'
  
  The South Pacific region first turned to common action with the founding in 1971 of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). It aims to develop collective responses to regional issues and includes 16 self-governing nations, Australia and New Zealand among them, with two associate members and five observers. There are also 13 dialogue partners.
  
  The PIF is primarily concerned with political and economic policy. But in the early 1980s, Papua New Guinea (PNG) proposed a permanent standby force drawn from the South Pacific states that could help ensure peace throughout the region and provide natural disaster relief. This proposal ultimately stalled over Australia's funding concerns.
  
  There have since been several multinational military interventions involving regional security forces - including those on Bougainville Island in PNG, in the Solomon Islands and in Timor Leste. Joint disaster relief operations - most recently after the tsunami that hit Samoa in September - are also evident.
  
  Such deployments were initially cobbled together, but in 2002, PIF leaders agreed on a formal framework for coordinating the response to regional contingencies. Known as the Biketawa Declaration, this should soon be supplemented by a new initiative.
  
  'Australia and New Zealand are looking at ways that (our militaries) can cooperate more deeply - and that's not only related to the Pacific but also to Asia,' Dr Mapp said in an interview with The Straits Times. 'It's primarily an Anzac capability in the first instance. But any longer-term deployment would inevitably mean reaching out to our Pacific neighbours as well.'
  
  The two traditional partners are planning to form a joint rapid reaction force (RRF), outside the PIF umbrella though appearing complementary. In a sense, the idea mirrors the PNG proposal of more than two decades ago, though through a bilateral undertaking that may provide a firmer base.
  
  'We've got to deal with the issues involving Australia and New Zealand first. We'll do that, and then would like to see what could potentially be added to it. But let's sort out the core first,' said Dr Mapp.
  
  He later noted that the PIF is surely watching closely and 'no doubt will express its views progressively', though formal consultations have yet to occur.
  
  Several small island states of the South Pacific clearly have deep-seated problems. Perhaps most evident to outsiders are issues of governance, with the Solomon Islands a prime example. Samoa has seen a major turnaround in recent years and there is fitful progress in Tonga and Timor Leste, but Fiji 's military government remains troubling.
  
  Beyond this central issue, there are the problems of drug smuggling, human trafficking and money laundering to consider. Other trans-national interests include fisheries management and search-and- rescue efforts. But, for New Zealand, its interest is actually more fundamental.
  
  'They are our closest neighbours, and some 10 per cent of New Zealand's population have their origins in the Pacific (islands). Their future affects the New Zealand psyche, because of the population flows,' said Dr Mapp.
  
  'New Zealand and Australia are so much larger than the rest that they look to us for assistance. In fact, they look to us first even though other countries put in a lot of aid. Providing our Pacific Island neighbours with assistance is a non- discretionary task for us, a core responsibility.'
  
  And then there is the challenge posed by climate change, with several Pacific Island states highly vulnerable to rising sea levels. This has the potential to seriously disrupt and even destroy some of these societies, but Dr Mapp warns of a more immediate threat.
  
  'Some argue that more severe weather events have already started to occur. Storm surges can be quite devastating,' he pointed out.
  
  Beyond the obvious humanitarian concerns, this prospect suggests the need for more intense disaster relief operations together with better training and equipment for local and outside responders.
  
  New Zealand's tighter embrace of Australia with the RRF is part of the tangible reaction to these imperatives. Another will become evident with New Zealand's defence review, a wide-ranging policy study soon due for release that will lay out the country's strategic interests along with the related requirements in manpower, capability and equipment.
  
  Major powers like the United States and France have a permanent presence in the South Pacific, and China is among the players engaged there. But it is Australia and New Zealand that are the primary actors.
  
  'That,' said Dr Mapp, 'is part and parcel of our defence review.'
  
  ST 11-30-09
  

  • 9:52 PM
  • 284 Views