Pacific Island Leaders Test China’s Influence—Here’s What Happened

Udumbara Udumbara
Sep 17, 2025 - 09:52 Updated: Sep 16, 2025 - 17:51
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Pacific Island Leaders Test China’s Influence—Here’s What Happened

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When the leaders of Pacific nations, including Australia and New Zealand, meet at the annual Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), they are traditionally joined by representatives from “development partners,” including the United States, UK, and China, and “dialogue partners,” which include Taiwan.

But last year, all mention of Taiwan was erased from the final communiqué after pressure from Beijing’s special envoy for the Pacific, Qian Bo.

This year the event was held in the Solomon Islands, perhaps the strongest ally the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has in the region.

It switched its diplomatic recognition to China in 2019, and signed a secret security pact with Beijing three years later.

Early on in the organisation of the event, the Solomons attempted to convince other members to uninvite Taiwan—an idea that found no public support among the other members.

So Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele cut everyone other than the 18 full members of the Forum, sparking accusations that Honiara was taking instructions from Beijing.

While in theory that meant no sideline meetings could be held with partners, in effect, countries with diplomatic posts in the country could still pull leaders aside for bilateral chats.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters told AFP last month it was “obvious” that outside forces were interfering in the summit, and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong warned that banning dialogue partners could affect external aid to the Pacific. Both countries, as full PIF members, were unaffected.

Tussle Over Taiwan’s Status

As a result, Taiwan’s status—and the CCP’s influence—was a major point of discussion at PIF on the last day of the Forum.

This year’s official forum communiqué described the debate as a “robust exchange,” and said the leaders maintain “the 1992 Leaders decision on Development Partners,” which is a reference to Taiwan and the year it became a partner.

They also agreed to a new framework in which states would apply to attend future summits as strategic partners. They will need to fulfil criteria that include being a sovereign country, a political community (such as the European Union), or an intergovernmental organisation.

“It ensures that partnerships are structured, balanced, and accountable in relation to collective, regional political decision-making processes,” the communique said.

It’s a decision that has drawn criticism from Beijing.

Last month, its embassy in Tonga issued a statement that said, “It is now time to correct the erroneous Taiwan-related content in the 1992 Forum communiqué. Taiwan-related content in [that document] violated the one-China principle in the first place.”

But PIF Secretary-General Baron Waqa appeared sanguine in the face of Beijing’s anger, saying there’s “no particular concern on anyone’s part” to reverse the 1992 decision.

“We don’t have to go into any detail or highlight any aspect of it, but all leaders acknowledge that and it’s there,” he said in comments obtained by RNZ.

All Pacific leaders were present at the forum except for Samoa’s, due to the election in that country. Other leaders have begun to signal concerns about the CCP’s hold on the region, chief among them Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr.

Speaking before his arrival at the Forum, Whipps said his country is “already at war” with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and called for greater economic cooperation across the Pacific.

“China cannot remain the number one investor in our private sector. That must change,” he told a military conference in Waikiki.

“We must help our people understand because of our location, we are under constant threat—I might venture to say that we are already at war—and the best way to combat this is through partnership with like-minded nations who believe that peace comes through strength, and presence is deterrence.”

Progress on Several Fronts

Meanwhile, the Forum signed only the second treaty in 40 years, the last one being the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, also known as the Rarotonga Treaty in 1985 in the Cook Islands.

This year, they agreed to the establishment of the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), which has been 10 years in the making.

Instead of competing with the rest of the world for money from the Green Climate Fund and other international mechanisms, the PRF will provide finance for community reliance projects using the region’s own facility.

So far, US$162 million has been pledged, with the majority of the funds still outstanding, aiming to reach $500 million by the end of 2026.

The “Ocean of Peace” initiative—the project of Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka—was endorsed.

Rabuka said it was about “peaceful existence, sustainable living, peace of mind.”

“Countries will continue to have meaningful engagement with others without destroying the harmony of the coexistence of the Pacific communities and also hopefully they will not try and use Pacific states as pawns in their strategic manoeuvres in the Pacific,” he said.

The leaders also promised to address the mounting violence in West Papua, where insurgents are fighting for independence from Indonesia. They have tasked the PIF Secretariat to work with Indonesia on a proposed visit by Forum leaders’ envoys in 2026.

The 2025 communiqué states that “political processes in New Caledonia are at a critical juncture,” and reaffirms the Forum’s ongoing support for that country.

But the president of the collegial government of New Caledonia told RNZ Pacific that “meddling in the French territories’ domestic political affairs” is not welcome.

New Caledonia’s political future, Alcide Ponga said, is “not a Pacific problem.”

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