Leaders push for unity in the midst of a Pacific rift

Friday, 15 July 2022

Amid growing tension and challenges in the Pacific, 11 nations signed a shared vision for unity.

We should not be talking about the Pacific without the Pacific, says the president of the Hawaii-based East-West Centre, Suzanne Vares-Lum.

Addressing delegates at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Fiji this week, Vares-Lum said the Pacific has the ability to wade through issues on its own.

“The Pacific needs to be the voice that decides what that looks like. It’s so easy for everybody else to talk about what should be. And I think with that kind of empowerment of who we are as a people, that we can figure this out,” Vares-Lum said.

“We must never forget our ancestors voyaged across the Pacific without GPS – that’s how resilient and creative we are.”

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The East-West Centre that Vares-Lum heads was established by the United States Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations between Asia, Pacific and American nations.

However, the Leaders Forum, where Vares-Lum spoke, has seen relationships under the strain.

Kiribati withdrew its support for the regional body, citing concerns over its leadership and the internal fallout over China’s growing influence in the Pacific.

Kiribati President Taneti Maamau announced his government’s withdrawal from the Pacific Islands Forum in July 2022.

While the Marshall Islands and Cook Islands remain in the forum, their leaders, President David Kabua and Prime Minister Mark Brown, did not attend the summit in person.

Kabua’s own government had derailed an effort earlier this year to undo legislatively binding action to terminate the Marshall Islands’ membership in the forum.

As for Brown, the Cook Islands PM opted to concentrate on the upcoming general election at home. He sent Foreign Affairs Secretary Tepaeru Herrmann to Suva instead.

Kiribati President Taneti Maamau announced on Monday his country’s withdrawal from the forum over the dispute about Micronesia’s role in the regional body.

In 2020, five Micronesian nations threatened to withdraw from PIF over the appointment of former Cook Islands premier Henry Puna as the forum secretary-general.

Leaders from Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Marshall Islands and Kiribati argued that a “gentleman’s agreement” had promised it was Micronesia’s turn at the helm of the forum.

Suzanne Vares-Lum says the Pacific has the ability to wade through issues on its own.

But in June, the rift looked set to be healed when the group promised in the Suva Agreement that they would not withdraw from the forum. However, Maamau said his country was not a party to the Suva Agreement.

Tuvalu Foreign Minister Simon Kofe called on forum leaders to look seriously into the concerns raised by Kiribati’s Maamau, “in the spirit of solidarity and unity”.

Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa said the forum meeting was significant considering the leaders had not met for the past two years.

“The issue was, first and foremost, the unity of the region, bringing back the northern members, so I think we’re fairly successful in that. We hope they will come back to the fold, and we need to understand what’s happening with Kiribati.”

Puna said the forum would approach Kiribati to address their concerns.

“Like in any family, the forum family has its challenges. We might not agree on everything all the time, but what is important is that when disagreements do arise, we have the grace to get together and talk,” he said.

“Make time because you know in the Pacific way, talanoa is absolutely critical, that’s what we are looking forward to, to engage with President Maamau so that we can find a way forward,” said Puna.

The Leaders Forum endorsed the 2050 strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent on Thursday, and Vares-Lum said that was the way to go to “addressing issues and mapping the future direction for the region”.

“I think what’s exciting though is stepping back a little and remembering that there is so much capacity in the Pacific and so much knowledge,” she said.

“If we can network that to look at solutions, like what the Pacific Islands Forum is doing with the 2050 strategy and voices of the Pacific – we shouldn’t be talking about the Pacific without the Pacific.”

The United States has promised it will implement stronger policies to increase its involvement in the Pacific. Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Wednesday plans to open new embassies in the Pacific and to triple funding for economic development as Washington seeks to counter China’s growing influence in the region.

Harris said the US would also return the Peace Corps program to the Pacific and expand its aid presence, responding to criticism from some leaders in the region that its status as a power broker could slip if it doesn’t step up diplomatic efforts.

The Commonwealth also reaffirmed its long-standing relationship with the Pacific. Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, who was at the Suva summit, welcomed the expanded American engagement in the region.