Abstract

As a consequence of its membership of a US ‐centred global alliance network, A ustralia's regional obligations in the S outh P acific are as pertinent to R egional A ssistance M ission to S olomon I slands's drawdown as they were to its inception. C anberra's imperatives in the P acific have been stabilization and the exclusion of hostile interests. Three challenges—the rise of C hina, the I slamic S tate insurgency, and the democratic discontinuities in key regional players—have undermined interest in interventions in both A ustralia and the US . The growing influence of A sian powers in the P acific has given rise to new exclusion concerns in A ustralia, and to a greater degree in the US . Rather than retrench from the S outh P acific, C anberra has an opportunity to re‐conceive the Pacific as an arc of opportunity, particularly in developing new forms of engagement with rising regional powers.