Elevating Pacific Perspectives in U.S. Regional Security Cooperation

Introduction

The Pacific Islands region has emerged as a primary arena for several defining global issues: intensifying geopolitical rivalries, the pursuit of deep-sea minerals, and the urgent realities of climate change, to name a few. Understanding the region’s strategic position and vast natural resources, China has aggressively expanded its regional footprint over the last decade. In response to what it viewed as a threat to its national security interests, the United States—as well as other regional partners such as Australia, Japan, and New Zealand—has increased its engagement with the Pacific Islands. This engagement has generally been based on a U.S. definition of security, which prioritizes defense interests and efforts to deny China a security foothold in the region. However, security for Pacific Islands is multifaceted, encompassing issues such as cybercrime, drug trafficking, struggling health systems, and limited employment opportunities. To engage meaningfully and effectively in the Pacific, development partners such as the United States should partner with Pacific nations as equal stakeholders and elevate Pacific-led perspectives, priorities, and solutions.

Evolving Security Environment

In recent years, the security environment of the Pacific has rapidly evolved. Global powers actively compete to assert their influence across the region, and, in an effort to gain access and deny the same to others, engagement is often framed through a security lens. In many cases, China’s regional engagement has taken the form of security arrangements, such as its 2022 arrangement with the Solomon Islands. In response, the United States and its like-minded partners have worked to reinforce traditional defense ties, such as the 2023 U.S. Defense Cooperation Agreement with Papua New Guinea (PNG), the 2025 Australia-PNG Mutual Defense Treaty, and the 2026 New Zealand-Cook Islands defense and security declaration.

U.S. engagement with the Pacific Islands has taken many forms over recent administrations. The first Trump administration established a director for the Pacific Islands on the National Security Council and prioritized relations with the three Freely Associated States (the Republic of Palau, the Republic of Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia), including starting renegotiations of the Compacts of Free Association and hosting the presidents of all three countries at the White House. Under President Joe Biden, the United States broadened its engagement to the entire region, releasing the first-ever U.S. strategy for the Pacific, the Pacific Partnership Strategy; opening several new Embassies including in the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu; and hosting the first and second U.S.-Pacific Islands Forum summits. Engagement under the second Trump administration has de-prioritized foreign assistance and diplomatic relations, while also increasing focus on solidifying defense arrangements and enhancing commercial and business ties, such as when the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command hosted a regional investment summit.

The Strategic Importance of the U.S.-Pacific Security Relationship

The Pacific plays a critical role in U.S. national security interests, just as the United States remains deeply important to the Pacific region. Both sides provide strategic, economic, and security benefits that are increasingly important amid growing geopolitical competition, especially as China expands its influence in the Indo-Pacific.

For the United States, the Pacific offers significant strategic and economic value. The Pacific Islands’ location along key maritime routes connecting the United States, Asia, and Australia makes them strategically important for military logistics, surveillance, force projection, and control of critical sea lanes. Moreover, their vast exclusive economic zones cover more than 10 percent of the world’s total ocean surface. These waters are rich in natural resources, including some of the world’s largest tuna fisheries and substantial deposits of deep-sea critical minerals which are increasingly important for global supply chains and emerging technologies.

At the same time, the United States remains an essential partner for Pacific Island nations. The United States provides critical security and defense guarantees across the north Pacific, and countries such as PNG view defense relations with the U.S. as helping to maintain regional balance and stability. The Trump administration has announced support for strengthening law enforcement capabilities, combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and expanding coast guard cooperation. Beyond security, the United States is an important development partner through initiatives supported by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and the Millennium Challenge Corporation which promote infrastructure development, economic growth, and private sector investment. The Peace Corps has also played a longstanding role in community development and people-to-people ties throughout the region. The United States also contributes to health assistance and digital connectivity in the region.

Incorporating Pacific Perspectives into U.S.-Pacific Security Cooperation

Despite these long-standing historical, cultural, and defense ties between the U.S. and the Pacific, U.S. programming continues to be centered around U.S. definitions of security, sometimes leading to a mismatch in what the United States proposes and what the region actually needs. While the U.S. government has an imperative to ensure that foreign engagement is in service of U.S. national interests, crafting effective programming that is aligned with Pacific security concerns will ensure lasting relationships and influence in a strategically vital region.

One long-standing initiative to foster dialogue and relationships between the United States and the Pacific is the U.S. Department of State’s Young Pacific Leaders’ (YPL) program. In an effort to enhance the U.S.-Pacific conversation around shared security concerns, the CSIS Australia Chair convened a YPL Workshop on Regional Security in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in the fall of 2025. This workshop fit into the Chair’s broader effort to better understand issues driving the security agenda in the Pacific and identify opportunities for greater security cooperation among Pacific nations, the United States, and other regional partners. 

As a follow up to this project, workshop participants wrote essays on regional and national security issues and provided recommendations for how U.S. policymakers could engage more meaningfully with the region on its priorities. These essays, which have been compiled into the new CSIS report Security and the Pacific Islands: Insights from Young Pacific Leaders, cover a wide range of subjects, including maritime and cybersecurity, humanitarian assistance, and youth engagement.

The report highlights several critical recommendations for Washington, including the appointment of a presidential special representative to negotiate the political status of Guam as a U.S. territory, investment in Pacific-led digital literacy campaigns to help youth detect online disinformation, the implementation of border-watch programs that empower local Pacific officials, the addition of a Pacific Engagement Coordination desk in regional embassies, and setting up data-sharing agreements with Pacific governments to monitor illicit maritime activities. Authors not only highlight opportunities for deeper cooperation, but also offer insights into how and where U.S.-Pacific Island relations may evolve in the future.

Conclusion

With the regional security environment continuing to evolve amid growing Chinese efforts to expand its influence, it is crucial that the United States transition toward more meaningful partnerships by prioritizing listening to Pacific voices and ensuring engagement is rooted in the actual needs and perspectives of the island communities themselves. At a moment when ideas to promote U.S.-Pacific engagement are in short supply, the Security and the Pacific Islands: Insights from Young Pacific Leaders report offers innovative ways to elevate the policy debate in Washington.

John Augé is the program manager for the Australia Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Kathryn Paik is a deputy director and senior fellow with the Australia Chair at CSIS.