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Forum Leaders Meeting Forum Leaders Meeting

in Honiara next year. One interesting subsidising and exporting fossil fuels is immoral and
comment about the idea was buried unacceptable”.
in the Forum communique: leaders Australia’s Minister for the Pacific, Pat Conroy celebrated
noted “the emphasis on increasing the Falepili Union as “the most significant agreement between
the region’s focus on the ‘peace’ Australia and one of its Pacific partners since the agreements
element of the ‘peace and security’ for PNG’s independence in 1975.” Beyond commitments to
efforts” – a not-so-subtle jab at migration rights and climate action, however, the agreement
regional militarisation by the major also gives Australia significant capacity to deter future
powers. security deals between Funafuti and China (even though
As US Deputy Secretary of State, Tuvalu is one of just three Forum members still aligned with
Kurt Campbell led a large US Taiwan). Conroy noted that, “Together, we will agree on any
Qian Bo, People’s Republic delegation to Tonga, the US-China arrangements Tuvalu enters into with other parties relating to
of China Special Envoy to
Pacific Island Countries. strategic competition overlayed all Tuvalu’s security or defence.”
Photo: Nic Maclellan
discussions on Pacific priorities. As Driven in part by concern over Chinese security deals in
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said bluntly last June: the region, Australia’s proposal for a Pacific Policing Initiative
“We know that we’re in a permanent contest in the Pacific.” (PPI) was endorsed by leaders. PPI proposes a multi-million-
The Australian delegation in Nuku’alofa led by Prime dollar Policing Development Coordination Hub in Brisbane, a
Minister Anthony Albanese updated island leaders on a range Pacific Police Support Group for regional deployment, and up
of initiatives and finalised new agreements on policing and to four regional police training Centres of Excellence (with
relations with Tuvalu. Papua New Guinea offering to host one at Bomana, while the
As Albanese’s Labor government heads towards national Marshall Islands has proposed another in Majuro).
elections (scheduled in early 2025), climate policy and fossil Despite Australia’s glee over the leaders’ endorsement,
fuel exports will be a feature of the contest. A planned there are still rumblings in the ranks – from civil society
tentpole for the Albanese government’s second term is to host groups angered that resources are being drawn away
the 31st Conference of the Parties under the UN Framework from community peacemakers, to those worried by the
Convention on Climate Change (COP31) in 2026. militarisation of policing and the diversion of resources
However, in Tonga, Australia’s Ambassador for Climate away from action on the ground. There’s a way to go, with
Change, Kristin Tilley said the bid to host COP31 is not yet the final communique noting “the need for further national
locked in: “We haven’t yet confirmed the bid. While we consultation on how members engage with the PPI.”
really appreciate the enthusiasm and support we receive at Caught on video joking with US delegation head Kurt
meetings like this and engagement with the Pacific, I don’t Campbell, Albanese said: “Well, we had a cracker today
want to mislead you that it’s definitely happening.” getting the Pacific Policing Initiative through.” The US Deputy
Türkiye has also bid to host COP31, and Tilley said, “We are Secretary of State replied: “We were going to do something
working with them for an amicable outcome. We are of course like that and Kevin [Rudd] asked us not to, so we didn’t.
hopeful that we’ll get to host a Pacific COP.” We’ve given you the lane, so take the lane!”
In recent years, Forum leaders have endorsed the Observers were unanimous that the exchange had the
bid, with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown telling distinct echo of “deputy sheriff”.
Islands Business: “To have a COP in the Pacific region is an There was equal opportunity embarrassment for China’s
opportunity to highlight the voices of the Pacific.” Special Envoy Qian Bo, captured on camera chatting with
However, the outgoing Forum Chair also fired a diplomatic outgoing Forum Chair, Mark Brown. A reference in the
shot across Canberra’s bows: “We must put the pressure communique that “Leaders reaffirmed the 1992 leaders’
on them to come up with some valuable commitments decision on relations with Taiwan / Republic of China”,
towards addressing issues that Pacific countries have on angered the Chinese delegation, and Brown was filmed telling
climate resilience and climate financing. It would look a bit Qian Bo, “We’ll remove it”.
embarrassing to host a meeting like COP31 in the Pacific In a series of bungles, the first version of the communique
region, and the very members who are impacted by climate posted on the Forum website was deleted, with a new version
change then start criticising COP31 for not addressing the substituted, minus the offending sentence. The Forum
needs of Pacific countries. So if you’re going to host it here Secretariat later told journalists “the version as finalised does
in the Pacific, you have to make sure that you can deliver on not change nor impact the decisions of the meeting, nor any
what Pacific countries have been calling out for.” standing decisions of the Forum Leaders.”
Even as Prime Minister Albanese joined his Tuvalu One Tongan colleague noted wryly that China was not
counterpart Feleti Teo to celebrate the adoption of the the only country to wordsmith the communique – and that
“groundbreaking” Falepili Union agreement, the same Australia has an inside advantage every year as a member of
message on climate action was rammed home by Tuvalu’s the drafting committee.
Climate Minister. Maina Talia told journalists that “opening,

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