Pacific Island Nations Laud U.S. Vow To Triple Funding For Region

After decades of stagnant US funding, Pacific island leaders applauded the US vow to quadruple aid to the region to combat illegal fishing, improve marine security, and address climate change, Kirsty Needham reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: In a video presentation to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Suva on Wednesday, US Vice President Kamala Harris said US financing for Pacific islands would be increased to $60 million per year for a decade.

In a video presentation to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Suva on Wednesday, US Vice President Kamala Harris said US financing for Pacific islands would be increased to $60 million per year for a decade, subject to congressional approval. Some Pacific leaders are attempting to balance China's objectives for regional trade and security relations.

The Solomon Islands recently signed a security agreement with China, which has alarmed the United States and its allies. Without identifying them, Harris urged nations to "stand united" as bad actors seek to destabilize the international rules-based order.

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

The Pacific leaders gathering for the four-day see climate change as the region's most pressing security concern, but tensions between China and the US, as well as Kiribati's unexpected resignation from the forum, are also being discussed.

"It really shows the US are back and want to play an active role," Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. remarked following Harris' speech. "Sometimes because of our remoteness we get forgotten, so this was important," he told Reuters.

The forum will also debate China's ambition to create a trade and security agreement with ten states with ties to China, which some members oppose.

Palau, which has a defense alliance with the United States and diplomatic links with Taiwan, was one of the PIF members left out of the proposed China pact, although China was economically involved in the country, according to Whipps Jr.

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

The US is nearing the end of negotiations on a new fishing treaty with Pacific island states, which has permitted US vessels to fish in exclusive economic zones for decades, and is increasing its assistance for Pacific maritime surveillance.

According to Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, the fishing pact provides the US with a platform to "balance" geopolitical deficiencies in the Pacific.

Steven Victor, Palau's fisheries minister, stated that tourism and fishing were the country's sole financial streams and that US funding had been unchanged for 20 years.

Kiribati, which is likewise heavily reliant on fishing, signed fisheries agreements with China after transferring diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019, a month after the forum's last in-person meeting.

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