11-07-2026: The governments of Australia and Vanuatu signed the Nakamal Agreement at Parliament House in Canberra on June 29. Under this agreement, the Australian government will provide $500 million to Vanuatu for the supposed development of ports, digital, aviation and energy infrastructure in exchange for Vanuatu banning any foreign military base being established. The Nakamal Agreement does not mention the People’s Republic of China (PRC),[1] but everyone knows that almost every word is directed against the Asian superpower. The words in the agreement technically do not stop Vanuatu partnering with China for infrastructure and other needs, but it states that Vanuatu will “consult” Australia when it engages a “third party”.[2] In reality, this means that the Australian ruling class will impede and block cooperation between Vanuatu and China as much as is possible. While the agreement has “security” clauses, in reality this agreement is setting up Vanuatu as a theatre of proxy war against the PRC, as part of Canberra’s subordinate status as “deputy sheriff” to the designs of US imperialism.
Sovereignty Overridden
Vanuatu is located about 2000 kilometres east of northern Australia and was home to a US Navy base during World War II that helped counter the advance of imperial Japan. Today, Vanuatu is being softened up as a potential beach head for war on behalf of Washington desperately attempting to restrain the vast economic and political power of the PRC. Both Australia and the US have to paint their attempted containment of China as one containing a multitude of “allies”. Yet in practice Australian imperialism is strongarming and even bribing small and relatively poor Pacific Island nations entry into a dangerous conflagration. The Nakamal Agreement took 10 months to negotiate, as the Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat conceded that the first version put forward by Canberra “contained a lot of wording that undermined our sovereignty”.[3] The version signed on June 29 does likewise, perhaps to a lesser extent. However, Vanuatu in the end did not have the power to resist the pressure of Australian imperialism and $500 million. This half a billion dollars will now be provided over a longer period than ten years.[4]
China is most certainly not a security threat to Vanuatu, but runaway climate change certainly is. The Vanuatu Internal Affairs Minister Andrew Solomon Napuat stated last year that “climate change is the biggest security threat in Vanuatu”.[5] Despite lip service to climate mitigation measures in the Nakamal Agreement, Australian capitalism has no intention, or capacity, to assist Pacific Islands deal with their homes being inundated by rising oceans. Sea level rise is accelerating, and ocean heating and acidification harm ecosystems and livelihoods. Greenhouse gases overwhelmingly generated by the burning of fossil fuels are cooking the planet and causing marine heatwaves, which have doubled in frequency since the 1980s. The average elevation of Pacific Island nations is just one to two metres above sea level, and half of the infrastructure is within 500 metres of the sea.[6]
Alliance for war
Less than a week after the signing of the Nakamal Agreement, Australia and Fiji signed two agreements, the “Vuvale Union” and the Orwellian named “Ocean of Peace Alliance”. The latter commits both parties to assist each other in the event that either side is attacked.[7] In reality, this is a hair trigger for a confrontation with China. The claim of Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka that the agreement does not threaten Fiji’s relationship with China nor Australia’s relationship with China come across as wishful thinking. Rabuka stated that “we have made it very clear in the past, your enemies are not necessarily our enemies”.[8] However, it is extremely doubtful that Fiji on its own will be able to resist pressure from Australian imperialism, let alone US imperialism, if either engages in multiple provocations against China. Indeed, Australian and US warships have been patrolling the South China Sea, flying helicopters deliberately into Chinese airspace in an effort to elicit a response for years.
Moreover, the so-called Ocean of Peace Alliance remains open for other Pacific states to join the future, paving the way for New Zealand, Tonga and Papua New Guinea to sign up.[9] In other words, the “Ocean of Peace Alliance” is a misnamed pact for war on Red China. In recent years, Canberra has been working hard to sign exclusivity agreements across the Pacific in an attempt to lock Chinese firms out of critical infrastructure and security deals. It has been “rewarded” with such deals as the Falepili Union treaty with Tuvalu and the Pukpuk mutual defence treaty with Papua New Guinea (PNG). To be fair, the Falepili Union treaty appears to allow some Tuvaluans the ability to move to Australia in the face of climate fuelled rising seas,[10] though this is a likely sweetener. In the PNG, the Australian government has cynically used Rugby League football in an effort to counter China’s influence. It has so far guaranteed $600 million for the establishment of the PNG Chiefs team to enter the National Rugby League (NRL) competition in 2028. However, in an act of effective blackmail, the funding for the professional football team will be withdrawn if the PNG government signs any security agreement with Beijing.[11]
It is no secret that the capitalism in the West is in decline, and thus so is the former unipolar US led world. It is being supplanted by a multipolar world, with the economic, manufacturing, infrastructure building, scientific and technological power of socialistic China leading the way. Rotting imperialism cannot bring back the power it once had, and so is resorting to all out war. The war on Iran, the war on Russia and thus the war on China in the Pacific are all part of the one offensive. Working people the world over have no interest whatsoever in this deadly war front but have every interest in seeing that the rising multipolar world prevails over a desperate unipolar world that refuses to leave the stage of history. Working people across the Asia Pacific should therefore stand against all provocations and war threats against China, while combatting the war on workers at home – ever rising cost of living increases, stagnant wages, a housing and rental affordability crisis, crumbling infrastructure and pollution fuelled climate distortion. A real alliance for peace in a world of potential danger would be an alliance for socialism.
Workers League
E: workersleague@protonmail.com
[1] www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/vanuatu-australia-nakamal-agreement.pdf (08-07-2026)
[2] www.straitstimes.com/asia/australianz/australia-vanuatu-sign-delayed-security-deal-that-is-seen-as-curbing-china (08-07-2026)
[3] www.nit.com.au/29-06-2026/25057/vanuatu-australia-to-continue-negotiating-revised-nakamal-agreement-after-pacific-visa-omission (08-07-2026)
[4] www.pina.com.fj/2026/06/30/australia-signs-landmark-vanuatu-security-deal-to-help-parry-china-in-pacific/ (08-07-2026)
[5] www.nit.com.au/23-09-2025/20394/vanuatu-flags-china-policing-deal-after-australia-snub (08-07-2026)
[6] www.wmo.int/news/media-centre/climate-change-transforms-pacific-islands (08-07-2026)
[7] www.foreignaffairs.gov.fj/fiji-and-australia-sign-the-vuvale-union-and-ocean-of-peace-alliance-marking-a-historic-achievement/ (08-07-2026)
[8] www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-fiji-strike-new-defence-alliance-2026-07-06/ (08-07-2026)
[9] www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/06/australia-fiji-defence-alliance-china-pacific-influence (08-07-2026)
[10] www.falepilipathway.gov.au/ (08-07-2026)
[11] www.redfireonline.com/2024/06/17/canberra-uses-football-to-counter-chinas-power/ (08-07-2026)
Image: Representatives of the Australian government and the government of Vanuatu sign preliminary protocols in August 2025 in Tanna, as a precusor to the Nakamal Agreement signed in June 2026. http://www.pmn.co.nz
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