Pacific Caution at the Forum: Washington’s shadow over Canberra’s security push

Pacific Caution at the Forum: Washington’s shadow over Canberra’s security push

by Joseph Solis-Mullen | Sep 17, 2026The 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, held in Koror, Palau, from August 31 to September 3, offered a revealing window into the limits of an increasingly ambitious external security agenda in the Pacific. The immediate subject was Australia’s expanding network of defense and security arrangements. The larger question, however, was what these arrangements mean as Washington intensifies its strategic c…