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Pacific island leaders welcome U.S. pledge to triple funding for region

Published 07/12/2022, 10:45 PM
Updated 07/13/2022, 05:05 AM
© Reuters. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks remotely on a video screen during the Pacific Islands Forum at the Grand Pacific Hotel, in Suva, Fiji July 13, 2022. REUTERS/Kirsty Needham

© Reuters. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks remotely on a video screen during the Pacific Islands Forum at the Grand Pacific Hotel, in Suva, Fiji July 13, 2022. REUTERS/Kirsty Needham

By Kirsty Needham

SUVA (Reuters) -Pacific island leaders welcomed a pledge by the United States to triple aid to the region to combat illegal fishing, enhance maritime security and tackle climate change, after decades of stagnant U.S. funding.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, in a video address to the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva on Wednesday, said U.S. funding for Pacific islands would be tripled to $60 million a year for a decade, subject to approval by Congress.

Some Pacific leaders are seeking to balance China's ambitions for trade and security ties in the region. The Solomon Islands has struck a security pact with China that has prompted concern from the United States and its allies.

Harris called for nations to "stand united" as bad actors seek to undermine the international rules-based order, without naming them.

"We recognise that in recent years that Pacific islands may not have received the diplomatic attention and support that you deserved," she said.

Pacific leaders gathering for the four-day forum see climate change as the region's major security issue, but tensions between China and the United States, and the surprise withdrawal of Kiribati from the forum, are also being discussed.

"It really shows the U.S. are back and want to play an active role," said Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. after Harris's speech.

"Sometimes because of our remoteness we get forgotten, so this was important," he told Reuters.

The forum will discuss a bid by China to sign a trade and security agreement with 10 nations that have ties to China, that is opposed by some members.

Palau, which has a defence relationship with the United States and diplomatic ties with Taiwan, was among PIF members excluded from the proposed China deal, but China was economically active in the nation, said Whipps Jr.

"The sky is the limit with the opportunity with China. That competition creates, sometimes, concerns about security. We lived through World War Two and we don't want to see that again," he said.

The United States is concluding negotiations on a renewed fishing treaty with Pacific island nations that has allowed U.S. vessels to fish in exclusive economic zones for decades, and is offering greater support for maritime surveillance in the Pacific.

Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said the fishing treaty offered the United States a platform to "balance" strategic weaknesses in the Pacific.

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was important the United States was increasing support, including new embassies in Kiribati and Tonga.

"We very much welcome the Biden administration's increased presence in the region," he said, adding strategic competition was a backdrop to the conference.

Australia and Fiji announced they would build a $83 million maritime domain awareness centre in Fiji, to house the Fiji navy headquarters, Fiji Hydrographic Office, and Fiji Maritime Surveillance Coordination Centre.

Albanese said defence personnel would work together on the project that would create local jobs, protect local fishing industries and was "important for our security partnership".

Palau's fisheries minister, Steven Victor, said tourism and fisheries were the nation's only revenue sources, and U.S. funding had remained stagnant for 20 years.

Kiribati, also reliant on fishing, struck fisheries deals with China after switching diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019, a month after the forum last met in person.

© Reuters. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks remotely on a video screen during the Pacific Islands Forum at the Grand Pacific Hotel, in Suva, Fiji July 13, 2022. REUTERS/Kirsty Needham

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told a news briefing on Monday that "China has enjoyed good cooperation with the Pacific Island Forum for many years."

($1 = $1.0000)

Latest comments

looks like we need to print more money for our vassal state to more happy than our own fellow citizens....
$60 mil per year for 9 island states is peanuts consider the US is allowed to fish within these Island States' Economic Zones for the past 20 years. Now with the help of China providing the leverage to bargain, these Island States should be smart enough to squeeze Uncle Sam and the Aussie for more to get back the resource extracted from the Islands
How can the US pledge money it doesn't have?
Those countries only have loyalty to the one passing out the most money. They do not care about one side or the other.
More of our tax dollars going out to welfare countries. When we need it back they wont be there to pay it back.
Just like liberals everywhere, standing around with their hands out asking for more money, and thinking that a person who can't speak in full sentences is just brilliant.
Like the pumpkin head you worship? Nothing he said made sense and he couldn't keep on track.
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