Tuvalu’s foreign minister has pulled out of the United Nations’ Ocean Conference on June 27 after China blocked three Taiwanese delegates from attending.
Tuvalu’s Simon Kofe diverted his flight to Brisbane, Australia and headed early to Fiji for the Pacific Islands Forum in mid-July. The Pacific Islands Forum involves all Pacific nations, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
Three members of Tuvalu’s delegation were Taiwanese nationals. China, who is on the credentials committee of the United Nations, demanded they be removed or else the delegation would be barred from joining.
Kofe decided to remove himself and the trio but still encouraged Tuvalu to be present at the Conference, which is focused on the sustainable use of marine resources—a key concern for Pacific Island nations.
Tuvalu, along with Nauru, Palau, and the Marshall Islands, remain the only four Pacific countries to maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Beijing’s Eyes on the Pacific
The South Pacific remains a key focus of the Chinese Communist Party, with the regime’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi embarking on an eight-nation tour in May to shore up alliances with Pacific leaders who are on friendly terms with Beijing, including the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste.While there has been much fanfare around the apparent failure of Wang to convince those nations to sign-up to a sweeping Pacific security and trade bloc, Beijing did manage to sign a swathe of new bilateral deals to tighten cooperation. Details of the deals have yet to be made public.
Meanwhile, the CCP looks set to continue its efforts to win over the South Pacific and disrupt the efforts of democratic nations to push back against it.
The Forum is working to maintain unity after a diplomatic spat in early June.
Three Micronesian leaders began formally withdrawing from the group after disagreements over leadership roles in the Forum. The matter has been resolved temporarily.
