Guardian Australia · Connor Graham · Wednesday 3 June 2026
Australia's habit of reading every Pacific change of government as a round in the contest with China risks insulting the very neighbours it claims to court.
Wale wins a vote in Honiara and the first thing out of Canberra is when he'll tear up the Beijing pact — as if a sovereign country exists to referee our blue with China. We notice the Pacific the way you notice the back fence: only when someone else is leaning on it. Talleyrand could read a small power's interests in a glance; we can't see past the scoreboard.