Canberra(Australia)- Australia’s foreign minister on Tuesday urged Pacific island neighbours to unite on their shared challenges of U.S.-China strategic competition, climate change and COVID-19 after the Micronesian state of Kiribati split from the 18-nation organization in a major blow to regional harmony.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong, addressing reporters in the Fijian capital Suva ahead of a leaders’ summit of the Pacific Islands Forum, said Pacific leaders have talked with her about the challenges of climate change and COVID-19 — “which have fallen harder on this region than on many other parts of the world and, of course, strategic competition,” Wong said.
“All the nations are seeking to navigate those challenges. And we do it best when we can do it together,” she added.
Australia and New Zealand are the wealthiest forum nations and share a concern over a security pact signed this year between China and the Solomon Islands.
Both the Solomon Islands and Kiribati recently changed their diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing. Kiribati’s withdrawal from the forum is being interpreted as a deepening of China’s influence in the region.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who arrived Monday in Fiji, described Kiribati’s withdrawal as “disappointing.” Wong said the “door remains open” to Kiribati returning.
The forum’s Secretary-General Henry Puna on Tuesday addressed “our brothers and sisters from Micronesia” and appealed for reconciliation.
“I acknowledge again the breakdown in our connections of the past two years,” the former Cook Islands prime minister said.
“My hope is that through our dialogue mechanism and the resolutions that we are working towards you continue to find value and indeed belonging within the forum,” Puna added.
Puna was elected secretary-general last year over a Micronesian candidate, deepening the rift between Kiribati and the other nations.
The Fiji Sun newspaper reports the country’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who is also the forum’s chair as this year’s host, was unable to reach Kiribati President Taneti Maamau on Monday for a possible rapprochement.
In his opening address at the forum, Bainimarama said Pacific nations had a choice.
“The most important consideration for us this week is this: How will we, the Pacific Islands Forum, choose to navigate these challenges and opportunities as we voyage into the future?” he asked. “Will we forge ahead together? Will we take individual paths? Will we be assertive or will we leave it to others to decide our fate?”
On Tuesday, the White House announced U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris would address the forum virtually.
Harris’ address is surprising given forum dialogue partners — including the United States, China, Britain and France — have not been invited to this year’s summit.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said in a speech in Washington, D.C., that Australia and the United States will need to do more to counter a growing number of threats in the Indo-Pacific region.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who will travel to Fiji on Wednesday, said his government was committed to spending at least 2% of Australia’s gross domestic product on defence.
“National security and our security in the Indo-Pacific is about more than just defence spending. And tomorrow I’ll be travelling to the Pacific Islands Forum, where our neighbours in the Pacific understand that climate change is a national security issue,” Albanese said in Sydney.
“Indeed, they regard — just as the United States does — as it being at the centre of national security and I look forward to the discussions that I’ll have with the leaders in the Pacific,” Albanese added.
Albanese’s government was elected in May with a promise to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by 2030.
The previous government only committed to reducing emissions by 26% to 28% by the end of the decade.
Due to the pandemic, the Suva summit will be Pacific leaders’ first opportunity for face-to-face meetings since 2019 when the forum met in Tuvalu.
In May, China fell short on a bold plan to have 10 Pacific nations endorse a sweeping new agreement covering everything from security to fisheries as some in the region expressed deep concerns. But there were plenty of smaller wins for China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his island-hopping tour of the region.
Wang was in Fiji on May 30 to co-host a key meeting with the foreign ministers from the 10 island nations. At an unusual news conference afterwards, Wang and Bainimarama spoke for about 30 minutes and then abruptly left the stage as reporters tried to shout out questions. That left many details of what transpired at the meeting unanswered.
It was clear the nations hadn’t endorsed China’s plan. But Wang managed to sign smaller bilateral agreements with the Pacific nations during his tour.