Guadalcanal anniversary marked by a Kennedy
At a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of a pivotal battle in the Pacific, two daughters of men who served there reflected on the lessons of war.
Caroline Kennedy, United States Ambassador to Australia, and Wendy Sherman, United States Under-Secretary of State, met at dawn Sunday on Guadalcanal Island to honor the 80th anniversary of the World War II battle that nearly killed their fathers and redefined America's role throughout Asia.
Then and now there was violence, great- competition for power and worries about the future. Their visit came as the Chinese military was due to wrap up 72 hours of drills around Taiwan simulating an invasion. And in their remarks at events with officials from Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Solomon Islands, the two officials underscored that the region - and the world - is at another crossroads.
>Mrs. Kennedy, surrounded by local well-wishers, promised to "honor those who have gone before us and to work and do our best to leave a legacy for those who will follow" .
M/s. Sherman was sharper. "It's up to us whether we want to continue to have societies where people are free to express themselves," she told a group gathered on a leafy ridge above the Solomon Islands' capital. , Honiara. “If we want to have governments that are transparent and accountable to their people. If we want a fair and orderly international system, where everyone plays by the same rules and disputes are resolved peacefully. the end of a tense week that began with trips to Asia by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, whose brief stay in Taiwan sparked the Chinese military exercises. Throughout the region, history, diplomacy and crisis have intertwined, as they often do when great power competition erupts.
As Hal Brands, professor of global affairs at Johns Hopkins University, recently wrote, the early years of the Cold War were also defined by "diplomatic collisions and war scares", when Russia and the United States vied for position in a still unstable world order.
The superpowers of today are different, and so are contested places, with new proving grounds like Ukraine and T aiwan. But some places on the map, including the Pacific Islands, seem destined for repeat roles.
China is working across the region to secure its influence, resources and possibly its military bases in what security analysts describe as an effort to disrupt the Australian and American presence in the island chains that played a central role in World War II.
In the Solomon Islands, one of the poorest of the Pacific island nations, the government has been particularly accommodating. In 2019, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the self-governing island that China considers a renegade province. A few months ago he signed
At a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of a pivotal battle in the Pacific, two daughters of men who served there reflected on the lessons of war.
Caroline Kennedy, United States Ambassador to Australia, and Wendy Sherman, United States Under-Secretary of State, met at dawn Sunday on Guadalcanal Island to honor the 80th anniversary of the World War II battle that nearly killed their fathers and redefined America's role throughout Asia.
Then and now there was violence, great- competition for power and worries about the future. Their visit came as the Chinese military was due to wrap up 72 hours of drills around Taiwan simulating an invasion. And in their remarks at events with officials from Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Solomon Islands, the two officials underscored that the region - and the world - is at another crossroads.
>Mrs. Kennedy, surrounded by local well-wishers, promised to "honor those who have gone before us and to work and do our best to leave a legacy for those who will follow" .
M/s. Sherman was sharper. "It's up to us whether we want to continue to have societies where people are free to express themselves," she told a group gathered on a leafy ridge above the Solomon Islands' capital. , Honiara. “If we want to have governments that are transparent and accountable to their people. If we want a fair and orderly international system, where everyone plays by the same rules and disputes are resolved peacefully. the end of a tense week that began with trips to Asia by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, whose brief stay in Taiwan sparked the Chinese military exercises. Throughout the region, history, diplomacy and crisis have intertwined, as they often do when great power competition erupts.
As Hal Brands, professor of global affairs at Johns Hopkins University, recently wrote, the early years of the Cold War were also defined by "diplomatic collisions and war scares", when Russia and the United States vied for position in a still unstable world order.
The superpowers of today are different, and so are contested places, with new proving grounds like Ukraine and T aiwan. But some places on the map, including the Pacific Islands, seem destined for repeat roles.
China is working across the region to secure its influence, resources and possibly its military bases in what security analysts describe as an effort to disrupt the Australian and American presence in the island chains that played a central role in World War II.
In the Solomon Islands, one of the poorest of the Pacific island nations, the government has been particularly accommodating. In 2019, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the self-governing island that China considers a renegade province. A few months ago he signed
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