ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the complex politics and the fragile economics of Micronesia and Papua New Guinea, especially in terms of the interests of the United States and Japan in the Western Pacific, it should have become clear that to a surprising extent the last United Nations trusteeship, Micronesia. For even though Australian influence remains all-pervasive in Papua New Guinea, the interdependence of Australia itself is evident in its own continuing reliance on United States military support and on Japanese economic power. The differences between the United States and Japan in their respective approaches to developing societies like Papua New Guinea are evident in several ways. One such instance is in fisheries which is one of the potentially richest economic resources which the Pacific region possesses. In Papua New Guinea, Japanese support for development has been project-specific, limited almost exclusively to the raw materials and natural resources which Japan’s industrial appetite consumes at a dazzling pace.
