Why Pacific Island states should seek collective security for the region

Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images Many participants at the Pacific Islands Forum in Palau this week would like to talk about anything but great power rivalry: transnational crime, energy security, climate change, development finance, seabed minerals, transport links. Instead, the meeting has been pulled toward the question that now shadows every Pacific regional gathering: what happens when the world’s great powers decide your part of the world is strategically important? The answer does not have…