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Australia, neighbors encourage unity on Pacific matters

The Associated Press

Australia’s foreign minister urged Pacific Island neighbors to focus on their shared challenges of global strategic competition, climate change and COVID-19, after the Micronesian state of Kiribati split from the 18-nation Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in a blow to regional harmony.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, speaking in Suva, Fiji, ahead of a PIF leaders’ summit in mid-July 2022, 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.”

“All the nations are seeking to navigate those challenges. And we do it best when we can do it together,” said Wong, pictured.

Australia and New Zealand are the wealthiest PIF nations and share a concern over a security pact signed between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Solomon Islands.

Both the Solomon Islands and Kiribati recently changed their diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing. Kiribati’s withdrawal from the PIF is being interpreted as a deepening of Chinese influence in the region.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who attended the leaders’ summit in Fiji, described Kiribati’s withdrawal as “disappointing.” Wong said the “door remains open” to Kiribati returning.

The PIF’s Secretary General Henry Puna 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.

In his opening address, Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, the summit’s host, 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 said. “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?”

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the PIF virtually, proposing new embassies in Tonga and Kiribati, a tripling of U.S. funding for fisheries assistance to U.S. $60 million a year and announcing the appointment of the first U.S. envoy to the PIF.

IMAGE CREDIT: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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