Kiribati’s forum pullout ‘disappointing’, PM says
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has downplayed Kiribati’s departure from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) as she heads to Suva for the first in-person meetings at the Pacific region’s key diplomatic body since the pandemic began.
Ardern said she had been working closely with the forum chairperson to hold the group together. But it is a blow as the forum relies on unity.
Pacific analysts say it will be a hugely significant meeting because of the region’s climate and geopolitical pressures, including China’s accelerating interest in the region.
‘‘Our position has been to support the chair to do everything they could to try and keep the forum closely knit and working together,’’ she said at the Beehive yesterday. ‘‘I think we should do everything we can to continue to work alongside all members of the region and to progress those issues that are of primary concern to us, including Kiribati, and that is for instance working with them on climate change.’’
Ardern said the Kiribati government’s decision to leave was not a ‘‘wider sign of disunity’’ – nor did it stop the Pacific’s ability to work together. However, she did concede it was ‘‘disappointing’’.
‘‘I think it is important that we try to the best of our ability to act and speak on as much as we can from the Pacific region as a whole.’’
The forum’s 18 member countries include New Zealand, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Kiribati said its concerns related to the regional body’s leadership, which is voted between the Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian states each year.
Tensions have been building since the Micronesian candidate for the top job missed out by a small margin. In February last year, Micronesian leaders announced they would leave the forum when their candidate for secretary general was passed over for a Polynesian candidate. Micronesian leaders said they would leave the forum in June but released a statement last month saying they were ‘‘almost certainly to remain’’ in the forum.
It comes as the Pacific finds itself at the centre of geopolitical tensions, with geostrategic interest from China, the US and Australia. Beijing signed bilateral agreements with almost a dozen Pacific Island nations after a whirlwind tour of the region in late May-early June.