Fisheries in the Pacific

Yan Giron
Pacific Island States, with on the front row Palau, FSM and PNG, is directly concerned
by “soft power”, meaning diplomatic-economic influence actions.
On the Indian Ocean side, we should simply recall the importance of Chagos
(US naval air station) which operates as a mirror of Asia-Pacific movements.
Its interest must be viewed in conjunction with the influence actions of the
USA in India and India’s own strategy concerning the Malacca Straits (the
Looking East Policy).
American leadership
We shall not review here all of the many American strategies to strengthen its
alliances and leadership in the Pacific. They hold a historic dimension which has been
well described. Let us simply recall that these strategies combine American alliances
with western governments holding territorial possessions in the Pacific (France,
Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom) and historical American partnerships
based on fundamental defence aspects with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines,
Thailand, and Singapore. However, let us emphasize that these historical alliances
evolve over time (see the USA-Philippines relationship) and are shaped by economic
issues (Thailand thus may move closer to China). Recent tensions linked to the
China Sea (2014 and 2015) are also leading to the conclusion of indirect partnership
agreements with the USA, just as a new partnership between Vietnam and the
Philippines seems to be forming, more in reaction to Chinese maritime policy than
from a real tropism for America.
Two elements should be specified here: the intergovernmental partnerships between
the USA and three Pacific countries, and the mobilisation of public-private partnerships
to facilitate the expression of American government leadership.
The Compact of Free Association associates the USA with Palau, FSM, and
the Marshall Islands through three separate agreements. They include numerous
components, of which one is economic support and another defence. On the
economic front, the USA has endowed each of these three countries with a
trust fund. The interest earned by these trust funds, invested on international
markets, constitutes a public fiscal resource. These trust funds supplement revenue
from fishing permits under the framework of the multilateral US fisheries
treaty. 22 The defence component stipulates that the signatory countries delegate
their defence functions, whether these maritime, air, or land, to the USA. The
USA exercises this military cooperation directly from its base in Guam, which
ensures it a level of potential control similar to that of their own EEZ over a
significant section of the West Pacific (located on the second line of islands
defined by Liu Huaqing).
22. See http://www.state.gov/e/oes/ocns/fish/bilateral/c33153.htm (Accessed on July 9, 2015).
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