Palau President Calls to Give Taiwan a Fair Go at Pacific Islands Forum
Udumbara
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While Beijing has been successful in pressuring many Pacific nations to repudiate Taiwan, 12 countries still choose to recognise the island nation. Three of those—Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu—are full members of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
That makes the yearly meetings of that group an important event for Taiwan, which has been a development partner since 1992. China has been a dialogue partner since 1990, and the two have managed to tolerate one another’s presence.
However, that ended last year, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had the Solomon Islands—which switched diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing in 2019—effectively act as its proxy and table a motion to exclude Taiwan completely in 2025.
How members will vote is still unclear, but last year, Beijing’s Ambassador to the Pacific, Qian Bo, successfully demanded the Forum withdraw its final communiqué and erase a reference to Taiwan as a “development partner.”
Unity Should Continue
In 2024, 17 of the 18 full members, including Australia and New Zealand, attended the Forum in Tonga. Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. said that showed a strong sense of unity that he wants to continue.“That’s the record since we’ve gotten back together. Let’s ensure that that continues, because that’s what we need to see,” he said.
This would include giving Taiwan unfettered access to this year’s Forum Leaders’ meeting.
Saying he has heard that “there’s been some difficulty in Taiwan gaining access,” Whipps has asked the Forum’s staff to ensure they are doing everything possible to ensure the conference’s success.
He also told a meeting of the regional architecture review (RRA) committee that “it is important that all our partners are able to be present at PIF.”
The RRA is the Forum leaders’ response to the increasing interest from a growing number of dialogue partners who want a seat—and a say—at the regional decision-making table.
A spokesperson told media that the Solomon Islands government is not in a position to comment on participation or related arrangements as the registration process has not yet opened. Formal invitations will be issued in due course, they said, but refused to be drawn on whether one would be sent to Taipei.
Earlier this month, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele issued a statement warning government workers against engaging with Taiwan and reaffirming his government’s commitment to the One China Policy.
CCP Influence Extending
Meanwhile, the CCP appears to be expanding its influence in the region.The president of Kiribati, Taneti Maamau, and senior diplomats from Niue, Tonga, Nauru, Micronesia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, Fiji, and Samoa recently attended a two-day meeting in China. Nauru was the latest Pacific nation to switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 2024.
Shawn Hugh Yang, deputy director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office on Guam, said Qian’s intervention in last year’s formal PIF statement “once again shows China’s consistent disregard for the rules-based international order, often resorting to political and economic coercion through wolf-warrior diplomacy and grey zone strategies.
“These aggressive tactics are solely aimed at achieving political objectives, making China a disruptor and troublemaker of regional harmony.”
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