Pacific island leaders will discuss how to garner more international support and funding to tackle the impact of rising sea levels and climate change when they meet July 11-14, as well as ambitions of China for stronger security ties in the region.
The China-Solomons security agreement, as well as China’s attempt to sign a broader regional trade and security agreement with 10 nations that recognize China but are opposed by some members of the forum, were also to be discussed.
Tuvalu’s foreign minister, Simon Kofe, said he was surprised and saddened by the news of Kiribati’s withdrawal and that Pacific leaders should “consider the concerns raised by Kiribati” when they meet.
Foreign ministers from 16 South Pacific nations had agreed to continue talking to Kiribati, which is considered close to Beijing, to ‘underline the strength of the Pacific family’, according to notes from a meeting the ministers held on Friday .
“Many of us around the table weren’t fully aware of the extent to which Kiribati was moving towards a withdrawal from the forum,” Kofe said in a Reuters interview in Suva on Monday.
“It’s disappointing… It’s now up to the leaders to find a way forward,” he added.
Kiribati President Taneti Maamau said in a letter that his country would withdraw from the forum because it disagreed with the continuation of the forum’s secretary general, Henry Puna, in his post, nor with the other terms of an agreement negotiated a few weeks ago to resolve a disagreement between the Micronesian states and the other members of the forum. Kiribati also wanted the meeting postponed.
“Kiribati has made a sovereign decision to withdraw from the Pacific Islands Forum with immediate effect,” said a letter from Kiribati to the forum secretariat, distributed to several Pacific media outlets on Sunday.
The Kiribati president’s office did not respond to a request for comment and the forum’s secretary general, Mr. Puna, did not comment.
A major forum leadership retreat will take place on Thursday. China proposed a video meeting between the international office of the Communist Party of China and 10 Pacific Islands on the same day.
Kofe said “the geopolitical competition and tug-of-war that we are currently seeing between China and the United States” was discussed at Friday’s meeting, and ministers said “the Pacific really has to define itself.” -even its future and the terms on which we will engage with China and the United States”.
He said that climate change was the major problem and that it needed collective attention.