China is making a bold attempt to participate in the most important high-level meeting in the Pacific, pushing for a meeting with the region’s foreign ministers on the same day as leaders meet in Fiji for the Islands Forum. of the Pacific (PIF).
Key points:
- The ABC has been told that ministers from 10 Pacific Island countries have been invited
- Wang Yi’s meeting is scheduled for the same day that Pacific leaders will celebrate their final retreat
- This is the first Pacific Islands forum in person since the pandemic hit 2020
The ABC has been informed that Beijing has invited ministers from the 10 Pacific island states with which it maintains diplomatic relations to a virtual meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 14th.
The timing is deeply controversial because it is the same day that Pacific leaders will celebrate their last retreat at the end of the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Fiji’s capital, Suva.
The PIF leaders meeting is especially crucial this year because it is their first in-person meeting since the pandemic hit 2020.
Pacific leaders hope to heal internal divisions over leadership through the forum. (ABC News: Melissa Clarke)
They last met face to face in Tuvalu in 2019.
The forum also hopes to use the meeting in Fiji to heal a damaging internal division over leadership after a small group of leaders reached an interim agreement in Suva earlier this month.
It has already moved to postpone a formal in-person dialogue with PIF dialogue partners, including the United States and China, in part because some Pacific representatives do not want the intensification of geostrategic competition in the region to weigh too heavily. at the Fiji meeting.
Pacific leaders reject China’s proposed meeting
But Beijing’s proposal to hold its own meeting with Pacific leaders during the forum seems to indicate that the Chinese Foreign Ministry remains determined to push its agenda forward during a crucial week of regional diplomacy.
A Western government official told the ABC that at least two Pacific island states were rejecting the proposal because they did not believe the timing was right.
Pacific Islands foreign ministers last met with the Chinese minister just a month ago, when he arranged them for a virtual meeting from Fiji amid a long Pacific tour.
Mr. Wang was forced to suspend a broad regional economic and security pact with the Pacific following this meeting after some countries expressed concerns.
Some Pacific leaders warn that China’s economic and security deal in the region could ease tensions. (AP / Xinhua)
The President of the Federated States of Micronesia, David Panuelo, warned that the agreement could intensify geopolitical tensions and undermine Pacific sovereignty, while Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa suggested that the process be had accelerated.
Pacific expert Anna Powles of Massey University told ABC that “very little” was currently known about the meeting, but it appeared to be part of China’s broader attempts to set aside the PIF.
“It appears to be an attempt to deliberately disrupt existing regional mechanisms of which China is not a party,” he said.
“The proposed economic and security pact between China and the 10 Pacific countries reflected Beijing’s interest in creating competitive regional mechanisms.
“The scheduling of a meeting to be held on the last day of the PIF leaders’ meeting could be seen in this perspective.”
Dr. Powles predicted that the meeting was “unlikely” to take place since some Pacific nations were uncomfortable with the idea.
“This also suggests that Beijing has not learned any lessons from exaggerating its diplomatic hand in May,” he said.
“The attempt to set aside the PIF is unlikely to be well received in the Pacific and will be considered disruptive.”
Australia among those promising to “increase ambition” in the Pacific
Australia has signed a pact with four other countries to coordinate its efforts in the Pacific. (Pip Courtney)
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not directly comment on China’s proposal, simply saying, “Australia hopes to attend the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting.”
“We respect the right of our Pacific partners to choose who they commit to and how,” they said.
The controversy comes as strategic competition continues to intensify in the region.
Over the weekend, Australia signed up for a new “Partners in Blue Pacific” initiative with the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and New Zealand.
The five countries promise to coordinate their efforts in the region more effectively and intensify efforts to address a range of issues ranging from climate change to illegal fishing.
A joint statement issued by the countries says they want to “increase ambition” in the region.
“We will map out existing projects and plan for the future, seeking to drive resources, eliminate duplication and close gaps, which will avoid greater burdens and missed opportunities for Pacific governments and the people of the Pacific,” he says.
The statement also repeatedly stresses the importance of the PIF, which promises to “further elevate Pacific regionalism, with a strong and united Pacific Islands forum as its centerpiece, as a vital pillar of regional architecture and our respective approaches. in the region “.
But the Financial Times quoted a U.S. official as saying there was also an “undeniable security component” to the U.S. push to re-engage with the Pacific.
The newspaper quoted the official as saying that the United States could take “security measures” to “strengthen” its position in the region, and suggested that it contemplated increasing its military presence.
“I imagine we’ll have more boat visits, more engagement. And there may even be something a little more permanent,” the newspaper quoted.
The ABC has contacted the Chinese embassy in Canberra about the proposed meeting but has not yet responded.