Pacific Island Leaders Resolve Leadership Dispute

This picture taken shows flags from the Pacific Islands countries being displayed in Yaren on the last day of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) on Sept. 5, 2018. Mike Leyral/AFP via Getty Images

Several Pacific Island leaders reached an agreement on Tuesday to prevent the region’s major diplomatic group from splintering.

This comes as China has been increasing diplomatic efforts in the region.

Six Pacific Islands Forum members—Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Palau, and the Marshall Islands—met in Fiji on Tuesday to resolve reform issues stemming from a dispute over the forum’s leadership election last year.

Forum chairman and Fijian Prime minister Frank Bainimarama said in a statement that the proposed reform package would “deepen trust and political cohesion” across the region.

Fiji Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama attends a meeting on day three of COP26 at SECC in Glasgow, Scotland on Nov. 2, 2021. Phil Noble/Pool/Getty Images

All forum leaders will meet in person in Suva between July 12 and 14 to collectively endorse the reform package. FSM President David Panuelo said they would also seek support from Nauru and Kiribati.

Panuelo said that Pacific leaders “collectively found a way to make keep our Pacific family unified, to make it stronger against external and internal pressures.”

He said Micronesia’s appeals had been respectfully heard and addressed.

“All of us have won; Micronesians, Polynesians, Melanesians all; because we, the Pacific, have achieved a means of making our Pacific Islands Forum truly represent us all,” he said in a statement.

The FSM, Palau, Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Kiribati initiated the withdrawal process from the IPF in February 2021 over the election of former Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna as the forum’s secretary-general.

They accused the IPF of breaking “the gentlemen’s agreement” to rotate the secretary-general role among member countries, given that it was Micronesia’s turn to take the leadership role.

The move comes as China has been increasing its diplomatic efforts in the region.

Beijing has signed multiple agreements with some Pacific Island nations, such as Samoa and the Solomon Islands, but it has failed to have the region’s nations sign a sweeping security and economic deal due to a lack of consensus among Pacific Island leaders.

Tuvalu and three nations from the Micronesian bloc: Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Nauru, recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation.

Australia’s new foreign minister, Penny Wong, also visited Fiji just days after the Labor Party won the Australian federal election last month. Wong pledged a “new era” in engagement with the region on climate change and also more aid for climate initiatives.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong arrives at Pacific Island Forum in Suva, Fiji on May 26, 2022. Pita Simpson/Getty Images

Panuelo told ABC’s Pacific Beat that the Australian government provided transportation for three Micronesian leaders to attend the meeting in Suva, and expressed his gratitude for Australia’s efforts to have the Pacific leaders decide on the proposed reform package without their influence.

Under the proposed reform package, the IPF agreed to rotate both the secretary-general and forum chair by sub-region, with Micronesia to hold the next secretary-general position beginning in 2024 for a five-year term.

It also includes the appointment of a Pacific Ocean commissioner whose responsibilities are distinct from those of the secretary-general. This position will be for three years, with the office based in Micronesia and reporting directly to the IPF.

Daniel Y. Teng contributed to this report.