Foreign Affairs
As the Pacific Islands Forum prepares to unveil a regional strategy for decades to come, leaders emphasize the need for a concerted approach to critical issues. But can that sentiment trump the problems dividing the region? Sam Sachdeva reports on Suva
After endured a constitutional crisis to become Samoa’s first female prime minister last year, Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa can be forgiven for wanting to shy away from challenges outside her country.
But speaking to Talanoa (dialogue) at a Pacific Islands Forum on Wednesday night, Fiamē raised existential questions about the wider state of the region, threatening the rules-based order in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘I think this is… a period of real reflection. Did we do the right thing? It’s almost as if we went together to get along, and where did we find ourselves? Are we satisfied with that?”
Pacific leaders will be asking themselves similar questions on Thursday when they meet at the forum secretariat to discuss the region’s key issues and sign the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent – a document intended to address those challenges.
But at a time when the Pacific needs solidarity, the most critical organization risks looking less than united.
While Kiribati’s outright withdrawal from the forum has attracted most of the attention, several other countries have been unable to send their leaders to Suva for various reasons.
Tess Newton Cain, the Pacific Hub project lead at the Australia-based Griffiths Asia Institute, told Newsroom it was important not to read too much about the absence of some countries, as scheduling conflicts were far from uncommon.
“You can drive yourself crazy doubting and thrice guessing why people did or didn’t come, and regional unity and regionalism is more than this one meeting, there’s more to the forum than just this one meeting.”
But with Covid restrictions hampering regional gatherings and a sizable agenda to deal with, Newton Cain said the importance of the leaders’ withdrawal should not be underestimated.
“There’s a lot of work to do to keep the region together, keep the Pacific Islands Forum together.”
One country that may feel particular pressure to maintain that togetherness is the Solomon Islands, whose security deal with China earlier this year sparked much research into its implications for the region.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Ardern met with her Solomons counterpart Manasseh Sogavare on Wednesday, having previously expressed concerns about the deal’s potential effect on the Pacific — a concern she echoed face to face.
“New Zealand is a big believer in the fact that there will be many aid and development partners in our region, and have been for many years, but when those relationships turn into the space that they relate to security, that’s an area where the wider Pacific family has a deep interest.”
Of particular concern is the fact that the leaked draft remains the only version of the pact that has been seen publicly, with Ardern emphasizing the need for transparency.
That call is complicated by the deal that requires the consent of both sides to release information, a clause the Solomons has used to explain the lack of disclosure, but which simply raises more questions about what exactly it signed itself — and the region – to.
But Ardern and Sogavare found common ground outside of a shared alma mater (the University of Waikato), with the pair reportedly agreeing that the militarization of the Pacific was an outcome to be avoided.
“We talk a lot about how contentious our region is, and there’s often that ‘friends for all’ mantra – I hope we tackle that ‘family first’, that we look to each other in those challenging times, but we have faith… that our values will really get us through it.”
– Jacinda Ardern
“He said it is not in the interest of the family in the Pacific or even the interest of the Solomon Islands to militarize our region,” the prime minister said of Sogavare’s views on the matter.
There was another security victory, with Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announcing a two-year extension of New Zealand’s police contribution to the Solomons.
The forum members have a difficult path to walk when it comes to the matter, they must be strong enough to prevent a recurrence without sending the Solomon Islands in a fit of anger the way of Kiribati.
Ardern hinted at a possible middle ground in her talanoa comments about the need for both leaders and the wider Pacific to be more confident in their own abilities.
“We talk a lot about how contentious our region is, and there’s often that ‘friends for all’ mantra – I hope we tackle that ‘family first’, that we look to each other in those challenging times, but we have faith… that our values will really get us through it.”
Naval Mining, Geopolitical Maneuvering Between Obstacles in the Pacific
Security is not the only issue that forum members have divided opinions about.
Newton Cain told Newsroom that deep-sea mining was “a major fault line in the region,” with the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, David Panuelo, calling on the forum as a whole to support Palau and Fiji’s push for a moratorium on the controversial practice.
That would probably be unacceptable to Nauru and the Cook Islands, which have both expressed a desire to mine the seabed in their own maritime zones – but as both countries’ leaders were not present at this year’s summit, it remains to be seen whether an attempt is being made to include some sort of condemnation in the leaders’ statement.
Then there are the geopolitical maneuvers that have stalled all week.
US Vice President Kamala Harris’s unprecedented speech to the forum, and the string of new US commitments to the Pacific, were met with glowing praise from the forum’s chairman and Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.
Not surprisingly, Fiji was the first Pacific country to join the US Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, and US diplomats have spoken of the country as a potential regional hub for its work.
“We come from countries and societies that are communal. We were raised with the concept of the collective, and how we look at the greater good and well-being of those with whom we live.”
– Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa, Prime Minister of Samoa
Asked by Newsroom what he made of the vice president’s comments, forum secretary general Henry Puna was also effusive: “That was very refreshing, and also very reassuring that Americans are now fully committed to reconnecting with the Pacific. Ocean in a meaningful and substantive way.”
But Newton Cain said the speech ran counter to the need to avoid distraction from outsiders and could lead to retaliation by China against the wider forum members, including countries in the Pacific who had not urged Harris to speak.
“It’s just really unfortunate because the leaders of the Pacific have said…that this isn’t a chessboard, that they aren’t pawns in someone else’s great game — they want to be focused on what’s important to them.”
While all those potential minefields could tear the region apart, there’s a distinct possibility it could instead bring it closer together, as countries rely on the sense of community that Fiamē so clearly described.
“We come from countries and societies that are communal, we were raised with the concept of the collective, and how we look at the greater good and well-being of those with whom we live.
“So it’s not a fancy strategy — it’s because of who we are.”