This is CBS. I on the world. I'm John Batchel with my colleague and friend Gregory Copley of Defense and Foreign Affairs.

We're heading to the South Pacific. And Gregory posts most recently an extremely provocative question,

who lost the South Pacific. Gregory, this is about a contest that one side is faring very well because it knows it's a war.

That would be the People's Republic of China.

The other side, it's not even clear to me if the other side knows there is a contest for these islands and sovereignties.

And not only the United States, but its allies, New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom,

in other words, the Five Eyes.

Who lost the South Pacific, Gregory?

Thank you.

Well, I think everybody lost the South Pacific, John.

I think the Chinese have been hold in their own for a little bit in places like the

Solomon's and Kiribati and so on, but really they're not making great progress and losing

maybe a bit of ground.

The US and Australia in particular, and even New Zealand, are losing some traction.

They know, all of them know, including the US, and China, that they are absolutely committed to taking dominance over the South Pacific and Southwest Pacific in particular, which is critical to the southern, if you like, reaches of the People's Republic of China's influence.

It's critical to controlling the ASEAN waterways, which link the Indian Ocean and the Pacific around Southeast Asia.

But there's been a lack of, if you like, understanding by all of the

major powers of the realities on the ground in the region. The PRC got around having to bother

about understanding the cultures of the region by just offering large amounts of money

under the table to a lot of politicians and to a degree that

worked. But in many respects, it alienated many. But with the case of Australia, they have been

in New Zealand, but particularly Australia, which is the dominant power in that region, including

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