Page 26 - Islands Business October 2022

US-Pacific US-Pacific

AMERICA’S CATCH-UP SUMMIT

By Nic Maclellan President Mike Pence announced a U.S.-led PNG Electrification
Partnership (PEP) at the 2018 APEC summit in Port Moresby
Spooked by China’s influence in the Pacific Islands, U.S. - little has been achieved to meet this pledge of electricity
President Joe Biden hosted an unprecedented summit at the across 70% of Papua New Guinea by 2030. Now, a new plan to
White House for leaders from the Pacific Islands Forum on 28- expand PEP across the islands region gained a meagre US$18
29 September. It was the culmination of a series of initiatives million pledge “subject to Congressional notification and do-
over recent months, as the U.S. government plays catch up in mestic procedures.” This money won’t go far, beyond enrich-
a complex and crowded geopolitical arena. ing some US consultants.
Overall, Pacific leaders left Washington well pleased, with While there is bipartisan US support for greater engagement
an 11-point declaration of U.S.-Pacific partnership, a strong in the Pacific, some Pacific leaders fear the US Democratic
focus on climate action, a grab bag of funding pledges and Party may lose its majority in the House or Senate in Novem-
significant diplomatic commitments for Forum members not ber’s mid-term elections. After that, contested Presidential
represented at the United Nations. Island leaders welcomed elections loom large in 2024 and a Republican victory will gut
the Biden administration’s recognition of “the climate crisis climate policy (Obama-era pledges were quickly abandoned
as the highest priority of our partnership, for it remains the by incoming President Donald Trump, who withdrew from the
single greatest existential threat to the livelihoods, security, Paris Agreement on Climate Change and refused to pay the re-
traditional and customary practices, and wellbeing of people maining US$2 billion in climate finance pledged by the Obama
in the Pacific region.” administration to the Green Climate Fund).
Despite these successes, the summit highlighted the funda- Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown serves as the
mental contradictions of U.S. policies in the islands region. It region’s champion on climate finance at global climate talks.
took extensive lobbying for the Biden administration to invite While welcoming new US commitments, Brown wants results
all Forum island members to the summit, raising concern at COP27 in Egypt in November: “The US and developed
about the sincerity of U.S. support for the key regional organ- nations have to step up and deliver now on their climate
isation. Accompanying the summit declaration, a new ‘Pacific finance commitments,” he said. “We need increased grant
Partnerships Strategy of the United States’ highlights China and concessional lending and support to reform debt financing
as the key regional security driver, despite the declaration’s modalities.”
focus on the climate emergency. State Department factsheets
detailing new initiatives are a jumbled list of commitments Policy changes
from diverse U.S. agencies, without much strategic coher- In Washington, the two-day event was crowded with side
ence. meetings, including a working lunch on people-centred de-
Beyond this, Forum leaders are well aware of the long pro- velopment chaired by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken;
cess from political pledge to policy formulation, legislation, talks with Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on eco-
funding and then action on the ground. For example, Vice nomic and trade opportunities; a climate roundtable with US

26 Islands Business, October 2022