About 80 years after the end of one of the bloodiest battles in World War II, unexploded wartime ordnance that remain on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands threaten to add to the casualties.

But Japan’s Self-Defense Forces members have returned to the island to help mitigate that threat. They are sharing their know-how with local police on the safe handling of the dangers that lurk beneath the surface in Guadalcanal.

The capacity-building endeavor, rolled out on Jan. 23, marked the first time for Tokyo to extend such support to a non-military organization of a specific nation.

As China wields greater influence in the South Pacific Ocean, Japan is working closely with the United States and Australia with an eye to boosting ties with surrounding countries.

ASSISTANCE, AWARENESS EFFORTS

According to an estimate by Tokyo, more than 1 million hand grenades and artillery shells from both Japan and the United States remain buried beneath the ground and elsewhere on the Solomon Islands.

At least 20 individuals fell victim to those explosives over the past decade.

Under the assistance program, five instructors from the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Ordnance School and other organizations illustrated the types and structures of shells the Imperial Japanese military utilized for regional police officers.

SDF personnel also brought posters designed to raise awareness of accident prevention.

Of the 14 island nations in the Pacific, 11, including the Solomon Islands, do not have their own military forces.

The Japanese government specified plans to consider providing capacity-building assistance to “organizations other than military forces” in the 2022 National Defense Strategy.

The latest move to help out non-military personnel in an individual nation is the first of its kind, while the Maritime SDF invited relevant officials from nearly 20 states to one of its destroyers in August last year.

Tokyo is beefing up relationships with the Pacific island nations because the South Pacific is “extremely important strategically,” according to a Japanese Defense Ministry official.

As the South Pacific is considered a key military supply center for them, Washington and Beijing are racing to bolster bonds with local nations.

Among all those states, the administration of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in the Solomon Islands is reportedly, in particular, displaying a stronger “pro-China” stance.

Sogavare broke off diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 2019 to establish ties with Beijing. The Solomon Islands reached a security agreement with China in 2022 as well.

Both the United States and Australia are therefore raising alarm bells, leading to the first opening in 30 years of a U.S. Embassy in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, in 2023.

The United States and Australia are still struggling to dispel deep-rooted anxiety over the Solomon Islands, as Sogavare declined to attend a summit between Washington and Pacific island states held at the White House in September the same year.

TERRITORY GAME BETWEEN U.S., CHINA

Washington and Beijing are alike involved in “territorial battles” in other countries in the South Pacific.

Papua New Guinea in 2023 signed a defense cooperation deal with the United States, making it possible for U.S. forces to take advantage of its airports, harbors and military bases. Lloyd Austin became the first U.S. secretary of defense to visit the nation in July that year.

In the meantime, Nauru announced having forged diplomatic ties with China on Jan. 15 this year, lowering the number of the Pacific island nations that maintain bilateral relations with Taiwan to three.

In line with the course of action of the United States and Australia, Japan is going all out to increase its commitment.

Tokyo has decided to send such weapons as patrol craft to Fiji’s Navy under its official security assistance (OSA) initiative aimed at distributing military equipment and other articles to “like-minded” countries.

Takehiro Kurosaki, an associate professor of tourism studies at Tokai University, who is also director of the Japan Institute of Pacific Studies, stressed the significance of the newest efforts of Tokyo to cooperate with the Solomon Islands.

“Japan’s involvement in affairs on the Solomon Islands will help strengthen the nation’s bonds with its quasi-ally of Australia,” Kurosaki said. “The commitment of Japan will also be welcomed by the U.S. administration of President Joe Biden, because an enhanced network within the coalition of democratic countries will be contributing to the establishment of an alliance to contain China.”

However, concerns are coming from some island states over the U.S.-China standoff in the South Pacific.

Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka warned in August 2023 during a summit of the Solomon Islands and other countries and regions that they must always keep in mind the necessity for the Pacific to be a zone of peace and non-alignment.

(This article was written by Nen Satomi in Tokyo and Toshiya Obu in Bangkok.)