Page 28 - Islands Business October 2022

US-Pacific

financing allotted for Egypt in the 2020 budget. The admin- of the flags of Kanaky and French Polynesia flying at the White
istration froze $130 million in funding over Egypt’s failure to House went viral on local social media.
improve human rights conditions.” Still smarting from the September 2021 AUKUS decision that
undercut France’s Indo Pacific strategy, photos of President
Engaging with the territories Biden hobnobbing with Mapou and Fritch angered pro-French
Before the summit, US statements on the centrality of the loyalists at home and officials in Paris. Anti-independence
Pacific Islands Forum rang hollow, given the initial invitation politician Nicolas Metzdorf, who represents New Caledonia in
was only extended to island states with UN representation, the French National Assembly, sharply questioned French For-
not the full Forum membership. In the weeks leading up to eign Minister Catherine Colonna, claiming that “leaving these
the meeting, Forum Secretariat officials and government lead- two communities of the Republic alone with the USA is at best
ers lobbied hard to ensure that all Forum island governments a diplomatic fault, at worst an abandonment of sovereignty.”
were invited, along with Forum Secretary General Henry In contrast, President Mapou told the White House summit
Puna. his country “is opening a new page in its history since we are
After the recent Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders (PICL) engaged, with the French State, in a process which has been
conference on September 12-14, FSM President David Panuelo called, explicitly, a decolonisation process.” The first pro-
confirmed to Islands Business that Samoa and Niue raised this independence President in New Caledonia in 40 years then
rebuff with US officials: “Samoa did flag that with the United travelled on to New York to address the United Nations 4th
States and Niue did directly flag those concerns. Special Political and Decolonisation Committee, reinforcing
“The Pacific Islands Forum is our premier regional organisa- the central call for decolonisation as leaders begin talks in
tion and it will remain that way,” Panuelo said. “When the US Paris on New Caledonia’s political status.
invites our region, we want to be inclusive of all the members
of the Forum as a family.” The C-word
The absence of Kiribati President Taneti Maamau and lead- Despite the summit’s success, US geopolitical agendas will
ers from Vanuatu and Nauru (both mid-election) reflected continue to crowd out island priorities. While the official joint
ongoing pressures for regional coordination. In recent years, declaration on US-Pacific partnership doesn’t directly men-
the Forum Secretariat has expended extensive time and en- tion the People’s Republic of China, the accompanying ‘Pacific
ergy resolving diplomatic mini-dramas, such as China-Taiwan partnerships strategy of the United States’ is bluntly critical
jousting or the United States demanding separate meetings of Beijing, which “risks undermining the peace, prosperity,
apart from other Forum Dialogue Partners. and security of the region, and by extension, of the United
Now, in a positive sign, island leaders are pushing back, States.”
with Secretary General Puna noting: “The direction from our Speaking in Wellington after the summit, Solomon Islands
Forum Leaders is clear, as they themselves have been stead- Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele said the initial draft of
fast in their encouragement of all Forum Dialogue Partners to the declaration included “some references that we were not
recognise and respect our regional mechanisms, including our comfortable with…There was some references that put us in
Blue Pacific Principles for Dialogue and Engagement.” a position that we would have to choose sides, and we don’t
The lobbying over attendance was worth the effort. In want to be placed in a position that we have to choose sides.”
a major policy shift, the United States announced plans to China’s recent diplomatic initiatives in the region have
upgrade diplomatic relations with Cook Islands and Niue, both panicked defence and intelligence officials across the Anglo-
self-governing states with ties to New Zealand that are not sphere, with a US State Department memo noting: “As the
represented at the United Nations. President Biden said: “I’m recent signing of a new PRC-Solomon Islands security agree-
proud to announce that, following appropriate consultations, ment demonstrates, we may be in the early stages of an
we will recognise the Cook Islands and Niue as sovereign historic shift in the Pacific that would usher in a new security
states.” paradigm — one that is unfavorable to US security interests,
Cook Islands Secretary of Foreign Affairs Tepaeru Her- will frustrate our ability to effectively compete with the PRC,
rmann has been lobbying to open this door to greater US and will impede implementation of the Indo-Pacific Strategy.”
engagement. After the summit, she said: “Today’s announce- The summit and its shopping list of commitments reflect
ment is not only welcomed, it heralds a new era in not just growing US panic over regional geopolitical trends. However,
US-Cook Islands relations, but the platform from which the action speaks louder than words. A decade ago, then US Sec-
Cook Islands conducts its international engagements moving retary of State Hilary Clinton came to the 2012 Forum leaders
forward.” meeting in Rarotonga, pledging regional engagement – with
The presence at the White House of Presidents Louis Mapou few concrete results. Will leaders face the same disappoint-
of New Caledonia and Edouard Fritch of French Polynesia was ment as they return to Cook Islands for the next Forum lead-
another unprecedented highlight, reflecting the increasing re- ers’ summit in 2023?
gional integration of the two French dependencies since they
joined the Forum as full members in 2016. Even though the nicmac3056@gmail.com
French government had authorised their participation, images

28 Islands Business, October 2022