The five countries on Tuesday released a signed communique confirming their withdrawal from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). Analysts said confirmation of their departure from the group, which also includes Australia and New Zealand, will have broad implications.
The development is a blow to regional unity among the forum, and has larger geopolitical implications, analysts said.
will seize on the fractured ties as a chance to consolidate its influence in the region.
The tiny nation of Palau pulled out of the PIF last week and met leaders of other states in the northern Pacific – the Marshall Islands, Nauru, the Federated States of Micronesia and Kiribati – on Monday to discuss whether they should make the same move. The five are known collectively as the Micronesian states.
“Small island nations on their own would absolutely not have the same voice that they have being a part of the forum to project their concerns on a global stage about climate change,” said Jonathan Pryke, director of the Pacific programme at the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank.
According to the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Aid Map, Australia spent US$920.8 million on 4,320 projects across the Pacific in 2018, compared with China’s US$241.1 million on 77 projects. The US spent US$186.3 million on 311 projects.
More recently, Pacific island nations have turned to the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for financing after their economies were ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic.
