At least five Pacific leaders have pulled out of the annual Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) meeting in Palau this week – with suggestions foreign interference is to blame for the non-attendance of some.
Kiribati, Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa and Solomon Islands won't have top level representation at the 55th Pacific Islands Forum leaders' meeting, which formally opens tonight.
A statement from the Kiribati Foreign Ministry to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat said President Taneti Maamau couldn’t make it because of parliament sitting and a limited number of flights out of Kiribati.
However, 1News understands Maamau was on the official list of attendees as late as last week.
NZ's Foreign Minister Winston Peters was not impressed by the late withdrawal and said the leaders' meeting had been a longstanding date.
It was disappointing President Maamau could not make it, he said.
"We've all got to organise ourselves around these matters to get here," he said.
Kiribati has sent its former ambassador to China and current Director of the Foreign Service David Teaabo to PIF instead. The country has close links with Beijing, couldn’t agree to a joint regional statement protesting China’s missile test into the Pacific and firmly supports the "One China" policy.
Taiwan has been given the green light to attend PIF in Palau as a development partner – despite China’s protests.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale arrived in Palau on Saturday night only to depart first thing Sunday morning after a motion of no confidence. According to the notice of motion filed against Wale, who holds together a fragile coalition, "the Prime Minister has repeatedly made unilateral decisions on matters of national importance without proper consultation with or the approval of cabinet".
Wale has taken a harder line against China than his predecessor Manasseh Sogavare, who was seen as a big supporter.
1News asked Peters if he felt foreign interference had contributed to some of the leaders' absence and he said "you'd be defying gravity and logic if you said it wasn’t a big problem".
Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka also wont be attending PIF this year. The reason given is he has some domestic engagements like the Constitution Review Commission report, which is ready this week.
The absence of five leaders out of the 18 PIF members – and uncertainty over whether a sixth leader Nauru [Naoero] President David Adeang will attend as his delegation got on the NZ defence force flight without him – is not ideal.
Despite upcoming general elections New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will be attending PIF, albeit for a shorter time - arriving mid week.
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