Page 27 - Islands Business October 2022

US-Pacific US-Pacific

Special Envoy John Kerry; meetings with business executives between US corporations like Lockheed and Europe’s EADS.
and discussions on challenges in the maritime domain. Analysing the summit, former Forum Secretary General
As he welcomed island leaders to the White House, Presi- Dame Meg Taylor and Soli Middleby stressed: “Recent Western-
dent Joe Biden re-announced a number of recent commit- led initiatives such as AUKUS, the Indo-Pacific Strategy and
ments, including plans for US embassies in Solomon Islands, the Partners in the Blue Pacific … all deliver a fait accompli to
Tonga and Kiribati and the opening of a US Agency for the Pacific without consultation. They disregard the Pacific’s
International Development (USAID) regional mission in Fiji by own regional processes and perspectives while claiming to be
September 2023. Peace Corps volunteers will return to Fiji, working in the Pacific ‘family’s’ interests.”
Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu (and possibly the Solomon Islands).
Biden also announced the appointment of former US ambas- Financial pledges
sador to Fiji, Frankie Reed, as the first ever US Envoy to the The White House summit saw bold US commitments to
Pacific Islands Forum. finance its new agenda, announcing more than US$810 million
The 11-point ‘Declaration on US-Pacific Partnership’ in- in additional expanded programs, on top of “over $1.5 billion
cludes headline commitments that are central to the Fo- to support the Pacific Islands over the past decade.” However,
rum’s Blue Pacific agenda: bolstering Pacific regionalism and the summit communiqué features spin as well as substance.
“the important role played by the Pacific Islands Forum”; The US$810 million commitment includes $600 million in
“strengthening our partnership” and tackling the climate fisheries funding already announced by Vice President Kamala
crisis together as a priority; economic growth and sustainable Harris in her virtual speech to last July’s Forum leaders
development; preparing and responding to natural disasters; meeting in Suva - money that is yet to be approved by the US
cooperation on maritime security “to protect the Blue Pacific Congress.
and enhance the laws that govern it”; maintaining peace and Most of the past decade’s US$1.5 billion in regional funds
security; addressing COVID; and the promotion of nuclear non- has gone to the three Freely Associating States in the northern
proliferation. Pacific (the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and Repub-
When you dig into each part of the declaration, however, lic of the Marshall Islands). The Compact of Free Association
some of the commitments ring hollow. For all the US rhetoric (COFA) agreements with these three Micronesian states are
on the “rules based order”, successive administrations have due to expire soon (September 2023 for RMI and FSM and a
refused to ratify key instruments of international law that are year later for Palau). Despite their centrality to US strategic
crucial for Blue Pacific agendas, such as the United Nations planning against China, there are still roadblocks in the US
Convention on the Law of the Sea. bureaucracy which are delaying COFA renewal.
And how seriously can anyone take Biden’s pledge of sup- Last year, US Congresswoman Katie Porter told Congressio-
port for the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, when the nal hearings on the 67 US nuclear tests at Bikini and Enewetak
United States is the only major nuclear weapons state that atolls: “The United States is not willing to discuss the nuclear
has refused to ratify the SPNFZ protocols? Pledges of US sup- legacy with the Marshallese …The resistance is on the side of
port for nuclear non-proliferation are risible (except in the the United States government, and I think it’s going to be very
case of official enemies like Iran and North Korea) – the US is difficult for us to start the negotiations to extend COFA unless
modernising its nuclear arsenal and hoping to sell nuclear sub- we act on the moral and national security imperative that we
marines to Australia, angering some ASEAN and island nations. have to address that nuclear legacy.”
Just before the summit, the RMI government used height-
Geopolitical complications ened attention on the Pacific to announce it would not join
Last June, the US initiated the ‘Partners in the Blue Pacific’ the latest round of COFA talks, given the failure of the US
(PBP) initiative with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Congress to guarantee full nuclear compensation (after rul-
United Kingdom, “for more effective and efficient cooperation ings from the RMI Nuclear Claims Tribunal, more than US$2.4
in support of Pacific Island priorities.” billion is still owed to Marshallese landowners for damage to
At the time, regional scholars like Tarcisius Kabutaulaka, property and health).
Greg Fry and Terence Wesley-Smith argued this White House At the summit, the Biden administration’s pledge of an
initiative “effectively forms a special group of five ‘like-mind- extra US$130 million in climate finance was warmly welcomed
ed’ partners with a shared interest in displacing or competing by island leaders. To avoid Congressional roadblocks for these
with China. This then becomes a new grouping in the regional funds, the White House did some fancy footwork to reallo-
architecture – an inner circle – which complicates and ignores cate unspent funding pledged to Egypt (ironically, the host of
existing structures.” November’s COP27 climate negotiations!).
Germany and Canada have now announced plans to join According to Associated Press, “the Biden administration
PBP, but French President Macron has been wary of being fully will pay for $130 million in new climate initiatives for Pacific
integrated into US containment policy against China. While Island nations by reallocating money that had originally been
they have attended PBP meetings as observers, France and earmarked for military assistance for Egypt, but withheld
the EU are not founding partners, reflecting post-AUKUS ten- because of concerns over human rights abuses…the money
sions as well as ongoing competition for regional arms sales reprogrammed was a portion of $1.3 billion in foreign military

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