Leaders at a four-day summit of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), meeting in the Fijian capital of Suva, confronted a Chinese effort to carve out some of the nations in a trade and security deal, while Washington promised more economic and diplomatic engagement. The exclusive economic zones of the forum’s 17 members span 30 million square kilometers (11.6 million square miles) of ocean – providing half of the world’s tuna, the most consumed fish. Nations are also feeling some of the worst effects of climate change as rising seas flood low-lying areas. At the PIF summit that ended on Thursday, leaders adopted the language used by many members to declare a climate emergency, saying it was supported not just by science but by the daily lives of people in the Pacific. A yet-to-be-released communique shows nations are focusing on the next United Nations climate conference, COP27. They will push for a doubling of climate finance flowing from big emitters to developing countries within two years, money they say is needed to adapt to rising sea levels and worsening storms. The communique, seen by Reuters news agency, also calls for substantial progress at COP27 on funding “loss and damage” to vulnerable societies that cannot adapt and will need to relocate communities – a battle lost in global talks on last year’s climate. “What matters most to us is to secure bold commitments from all countries at COP27 to phase out coal and other fossil fuels and boost funding to the most vulnerable nations and promote causes such as ‘loss and damage’ that have of great importance to most – island communities are at risk,” Fijian President Frank Bainimarama told reporters. “We cannot be content with the survival of every Pacific island nation,” said Bainimarama, the forum’s president. Fijian President Frank Bainimarama has called for bold commitments to phase out coal and other fossil fuels [File: Kirsty Needham/Reuters] Tuvalu’s Foreign Minister Simon Kofe, who literally made waves at the last global climate conference by standing knee-deep in seawater to show what his country was dealing with, told Reuters: “There is technology available to protect the islands and the lifting of the islands and that is what we are looking for. It’s very expensive.” As the Pacific summit drew to a close, Australian coal mining stocks soared on expectations that China could resume imports after a two-year political dispute that cut coal shipments to the world’s biggest coal burner from the second largest its exporter. Against the market’s optimism, leaders at the forum’s thatched-roof headquarters discussed how to deal with the statism of people whose nation is submerged in rising seas, or whose rights to fishing grounds are defined by their distance from a receding landmass. may disappear. The communique cites the urgent need for help for debt vulnerability and rising food costs amid the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a video address to the forum, US Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to triple funding to the Pacific islands over a decade under a fishing treaty and open more embassies. Pacific leaders have occasionally shown irritation with the global focus on the dispute between Washington and Beijing over their region. Australia, in coordination, said less about security and pledged more support for its neighbours’ climate change agenda, although marine watchdog announcements to protect sustainable fisheries hinted at its underlying anxiety. “It’s harder for countries that are responsible for most of the illegal fishing to support the region to stop illegal fishing,” Australia’s Pacific Affairs Minister Pat Conroy said in an interview, referring to China.
Economic ties with China
Australian officials say privately that they do not want security options in the region because of economic ties to China, and although the Pacific islands are sophisticated actors, they need financial support because many have historical debts to Beijing. Fiji, for example, has not received loans from China since 2012 but continues to service export-import bank loans for Chinese infrastructure projects that will cost the government 40 million Fijian dollars ($18 million) this year, according to documents from budget. Australia’s Strategic Policy Institute analyst Michael Shubridge said Beijing has a history of “dissolving regionalism”, drawing a parallel between its recent diplomacy in the Pacific and a platform it created a decade ago to engage with European countries and bypass the European Union. Some leaders said in interviews that China provided economic opportunities that small island economies could not ignore, though they agreed to work through the forum to remain united in their response to great power competition, particularly in security, after concern that Beijing has cut a deal on security. April with the Solomon Islands. The forum’s secretary-general has openly criticized China’s bid to get about half of the forum’s members to sign a trade and security deal in May that would exclude members with ties to Taiwan and exclude Australia and New Zealand. Leaders at the summit said it was rushed without consultation. China’s embassy in Fiji responded on Twitter on Saturday, saying Beijing had prepared and presented the outcome document to the Pacific islands a month before the foreign ministers’ meeting. Beijing has created a new platform for cooperation with Pacific island countries through an annual meeting with its foreign minister, it said.
