[SS from essay by Charles Edel, Senior Adviser and Australia Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He served on the U.S. Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff from 2015 to 2017; and Kathryn Paik, Senior Fellow with the Australia Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and previously served as Director for the Pacific and Southeast Asia on the National Security Council from 2021 to 2023.]
Under Democratic and Republican administrations alike, policymakers in Washington have in recent years reached a consensus about the need to compete with China. They have paid growing attention to the technological and military aspects of the competition, shoring up relationships with partners and allies, and trying to prevent China from gaining access to critical technologies. But they have neglected one key area: the United States’ diplomatic ground game. To compete effectively with China, Washington must better support the efforts of its often beleaguered and overstretched diplomats abroad. Nowhere is this deficit more evident than in the Pacific Islands region—an area that encompasses nearly a fifth of the world’s surface, through which the American military and a good deal of U.S. trade travel, and that is home to more than a dozen democratic states.
After years of neglect, and in response to increased Chinese activity in the region, Washington has stepped up its engagement in the Pacific. It has opened new embassies, signed new security agreements, hosted two summits at the White House with all the region’s leaders, released a Pacific-focused national strategy that responds to regional priorities, and worked with major allies and partners elsewhere to deliver needed infrastructure to Pacific Island countries. Those efforts are welcome—and overdue. But the United States’ influence in the region is still being undercut by the limitations of its diplomacy: insufficient reach, inadequate funding, and outdated reporting requirements. Together, these flaws make it harder for Washington to compete with Beijing in the Pacific. Without a shift in how Washington prioritizes and supports diplomacy in this area, the United States will continue to cede ground to [China](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/regions/china) across a region that reaches from the Philippines to Hawaii.
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[SS from essay by Charles Edel, Senior Adviser and Australia Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He served on the U.S. Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff from 2015 to 2017; and Kathryn Paik, Senior Fellow with the Australia Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and previously served as Director for the Pacific and Southeast Asia on the National Security Council from 2021 to 2023.]
Under Democratic and Republican administrations alike, policymakers in Washington have in recent years reached a consensus about the need to compete with China. They have paid growing attention to the technological and military aspects of the competition, shoring up relationships with partners and allies, and trying to prevent China from gaining access to critical technologies. But they have neglected one key area: the United States’ diplomatic ground game. To compete effectively with China, Washington must better support the efforts of its often beleaguered and overstretched diplomats abroad. Nowhere is this deficit more evident than in the Pacific Islands region—an area that encompasses nearly a fifth of the world’s surface, through which the American military and a good deal of U.S. trade travel, and that is home to more than a dozen democratic states.
After years of neglect, and in response to increased Chinese activity in the region, Washington has stepped up its engagement in the Pacific. It has opened new embassies, signed new security agreements, hosted two summits at the White House with all the region’s leaders, released a Pacific-focused national strategy that responds to regional priorities, and worked with major allies and partners elsewhere to deliver needed infrastructure to Pacific Island countries. Those efforts are welcome—and overdue. But the United States’ influence in the region is still being undercut by the limitations of its diplomacy: insufficient reach, inadequate funding, and outdated reporting requirements. Together, these flaws make it harder for Washington to compete with Beijing in the Pacific. Without a shift in how Washington prioritizes and supports diplomacy in this area, the United States will continue to cede ground to [China](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/regions/china) across a region that reaches from the Philippines to Hawaii.