Analysis: As leaders from around the region begin to gather in Palau for the annual Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), unease is building as further fractures in the group emerge, writes 1News Pacific Correspondent Barbara Dreaver.
Still bruised from China firing a test missile across and then into the Pacific ocean, leaders weren’t able to issue a joint statement of protest as Nauru and Kiribati, who have close links to Beijing, wouldn’t agree to it.
Now, in a new development, Kiribati President Taneti Maamau has pulled out of attending this important meeting and has not sent any minister, politician or even the Secretary of Foreign Affairs in his place, which would be the normal course of action.
Instead, in a blatantly pointed move, Kiribati is sending its Director of the Foreign Service David Teaabo, who up until May this year was the country’s Ambassador to China.
The weapon was fired hours after Australia signed an elevated defence deal with Fiji. (Source: 1News)
This is a highly unusual move — it’s not an officials meeting, it’s a leaders meeting. And a critical part of PIF is the leaders retreat – where the leaders from the 18 member countries including New Zealand and Australia meet without officials for some frank talking.
This is where relationships and unity are built, common ground is found and the real discussions, many of them tough ones, leader to leader are had.
It is not the first time there have been ructions with Kiribati. In 2022, 1News broke the story on Kiribati quitting PIF over the selection of the secretary general.
Along with other small Micronesian island states it felt ignored, but in January 2023 it was brought back into the fold thanks to Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. Three years on, it feels like we are heading back to those turbulent times.
It is irrelevant whether geopolitics and the China vs Taiwan should or shouldn’t be an issue at the Pacific Islands Forum – because it is regardless. Palau is one of three Pacific countries which recognise Taiwan and its President Surangel Whipps Jr has claimed interference from China.
In an interview with TaiwanPlus News he said because Palau has allowed Taiwan, which is a PIF development partner, to the regional meeting, "China continues to try to influence us whether its threatening us with weaponising tourism or attacking us personally and we’ve made it very clear from the beginning nobody is going to tell us who our friends can be”.
The US embassy in Palau has weighed in to the conversation and on a social media post said it opposes any attempts by China “to weaponise tourism to coerce Palau”. It says China claims there are numerous incidents of crime “as well as a dangerous local marine environment and frequent accidents involving tourists", however Palau is considered a safe destination.
Regional security treaty on the table after tense times in which China fired a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. (Source: 1News)
China warned the PIF secretary general Baron Waqa that PIF should stick to the one China policy – clearly that has not happened.
The Global Times, considered the mouthpiece of Beijing, has run an opinion piece praising Kiribati for “promoting constitutional amendments to enshrine its one-China position seeking to prevent repeated fluctuations in its diplomatic stance”.
The move is to prevent future governments from establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The same article condemns Palau for allowing Taiwan to attend PIF.
No wonder the Kiribati leadership has pulled out. It's a shame as Kiribati is a valuable member – its leadership presence will be missed.
The drama has begun and the PIF leaders meeting – which should be focusing on the needs of the region without foreign influence – hasn’t even started yet.
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