Experts Deride Claims Aussie Foreign Minister Singlehandedly Torpedoed Pacific China Pact

This handout picture released by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on June 2, 2022 shows Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (R) attending a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Samoa Fiame Naomi Mata'afa in Apia. Sarah Friend/Courtesy of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs. (D/AFP via Getty Images

Pacific experts have panned claims that new Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong singlehandedly took down Beijing’s efforts to sign 10 island nations onto a sweeping economic and security pact.

James Cox, director of Pacific advocacy group Peacifica Australia, said any suggestion that a quick visit from a minister from the newly elected Labor government could shift the balance in the Pacific was “absurd.”