In another effort to contain expansion of China, the United States, Japan and Australia have pledged to build an undersea cable to improve internet connectivity to the Pacific island nations of Micronesia, Nauru and Kiribati and to cooperate on 5G network development, according to Kyodo News.
The telecom development will occur through the Digicel Group, which was purchased by Telstra Corp in October with funding by the Australian government. Also seen as an effort to contain China’s rising influence in the region.
These developments are in line with meetings that were held in September, where the leaders of the United States, India, Japan and Australia gathered in Washington, D.C., as part of the “Quad Leaders Summit”. The confab was in support of an open Indo-Pacific region that is free of domination by China, according to CNBC.
“Together, we recommit to promoting the free, open, rules-based order, rooted in international law and undaunted by coercion, to bolster security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” Biden, along with India’s Narendra Modi, Japan’s Yoshihide Suga and Australia’s Scott Morrison, said in a joint statement.
By J. Sharpe Smith Inside Towers Technology Editor
Reader Interactions