The immediate challenges AUKUS faces in our immediate region

As I have reported, this year alone the PNG Government and its state owned entities have signed up to infrastructure projects with PRC companies worth at least K6 billion – all funded by loans from the Exim Bank and other finance houses.

China Rail is constructing the new Supreme Court complex. The project has been delayed by funding delays (it is being financed by the PNG Government), cost over-runs and other issues. Will it be the next "Noble Center?"

And what has Australia done to "counter" this expansion? Not much – and not enough!

The AIFFP scheme – supposedly our trail blazer to expand our Pacific engagement and counter China – has in almost three years of existence so far approved two relatively small projects in PNG. Projects under Belt and Road continue to swamp it.

And now there are indications the Australian Government Is going to give PNG another "cash handout" allegedly to help finance the 2021 budget deficit. I will comment on that in the near future, but if it happens again - after handouts in 2019 and 2020 – it just confirms how hopeless our policy approach to our closest neighbour has become!

So in summary the China influence in PNG is much greater than is generally understood, and it is growing as rapidly as ever. The AUKUS alliance is going to have to urgently confront reality – and reality tells us that what we are doing, and what the US in doing, has not made a real impact on China's expansionism.

The position in the neighbouring nation of The Solomon Islands is arguably even worse than that in Papua New Guinea. The Solomons is a former UK colony, so one hopes as part of AUKUS the Johnson Government might urgently look at what can be done to counter China's march through this small, but strategically important, island nation.

The domestic construction sector in The Solomon Islands has been crushed in the same way as its PNG counterpart has been done – but in a lot less time!

There are now a whole series of infrastructure projects under way in Honiara and other centres, all undertaken by PRC companies led by China Rail. Some are Belt and Road initiatives with loan repayment clauses attached.

While there is resistance in at least one province to China's growth in the SI, the national government is firmly backing the growing engagement, diminishing Australia's role in the country's development.

And when you look at Vanuatu, even closer to Australia, the Chinese presence is really expanding. Only this week, the Government of Vanuatu signed an agreement with the Chinese Embassy in Vanuatu for mandarin to be taught in Vanuatu's schools.

The program will receive direct support, and involvement, from the PRC Embassy, potentially increasing the Chinese influence in the Vanuatu community.