Joe Biden unveils Pacific nations aid, embassies at US-hosted summit as Solomon Islands PM sits out

American leader extols ‘security, prosperity and dignity’ for Oceanic allies and partners in latest response to China’s decades-long inroads in region
Nearly US$200 million in economic aid announced, but Washington’s possible government shutdown looms large

US-China relations

Khushboo Razdanin New York

Published: 6:25am, 26 Sep 2023

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The White House on Monday welcomed leaders from 16 Pacific island nations and territories, its latest high-profile response to China’s decades-long strategic focus on the region.

Speaking ahead of the US-Pacific Islands Forum Summit and flanked by his guests, US President Joe Biden contended that Washington had delivered on last year’s promise of rebooting diplomatic ties with the region.

“One of the great opportunities for security, prosperity and dignity for all our people, no matter where they live … starts by building stronger partnerships with each other,” he said.

The American leader cited the opening of new embassies in Tonga and the Solomon Islands, the establishment of a USAID mission in Fiji and the return of the Peace Corps to Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.

US President Joe Biden poses with the leaders of 16 Pacific island nations whose support Washington views as crucial to stem Beijing’s influence in resource-rich Oceania. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Washington would also formally establish diplomatic relations with the Cook Islands and the South Pacific island of Niue, he added.

The US plans to open an embassy in Vanuatu in 2024 and stay involved in discussions regarding “our interest” in opening an embassy in Kiribati, according to a fact sheet the White House released soon after the meeting.

Washington was committed to holding the next Pacific nations summit in 2025 and intended to hold “biennial political engagements thereafter”, the document said.

But the opening of a US embassy in the Solomon Islands did little to ease tensions in Washington’s relations with Honiara.

In July, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare accused the US of interfering in the country’s “internal affairs” after Washington raised concerns about Honiara signing a security deal with Beijing.

Sogavare, who refused to sign the joint declaration coming out of the inaugural US-Pacific Islands Forum Summit last year, spoke of a “toxic mix of geopolitical power posturing” in his UN General Assembly speech on Friday in New York.

He departed the US over the weekend in a move seen as a snub to Biden’s Pacific outreach.

Some analysts have noted that Washington’s latest overtures to the resource-rich region are still in the early stages compared to China, which has cultivated its ties with the nations for a longer period of time.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly last Friday. Photo: AP

“The United States is still in somewhat of a honeymoon phase in its reengagement with the Pacific islands,” wrote Gordon Peake and Camilla Pohle of the US Institute of Peace, a non-profit group, in a recent article.

A lasting relationship “hinges upon mutual understanding and, when necessary, having conversations about difficult issues”, they said, adding that the main challenge was “sustaining this level of engagement and fulfilling the promises it has made, especially since so much funding hinges on congressional approval”.

The White House last year pledged more than US$800 million in a variety of programmes targeting Pacific island nations. However, Congress has yet to approved the funds.

And as the Biden administration braces for a possible government shutdown as Republicans refuse to approve federal spending bills, other major announcements from the summit on Monday came in the form of economic aid pledges.

Biden said his administration was working with Congress to invest US$40 million in infrastructure programmes and “launching US$200 million in new proposals”, believing that “strong growth begins with a strong infrastructure”.

The president also announced a US plan to invest more than US$11 million in bringing cutting-edge maritime domain awareness technology to the region in partnership with the other members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue: Australia, India and Japan.

The Quad, as the strategic grouping is known, is widely regarded as a bulwark to China’s diplomatic and military ambitions in Asia.

Biden on Monday reiterated America’s commitment to “ensuring an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, prosperous and secure”.

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown (left) listens as US President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on Monday. Photo: AP

Washington would send “the first US Coast Guard vessel solely dedicated to collaborate and train with Pacific island nations”, he said. In addition, the US would make a new investment to boost digital connectivity via undersea cables, the statement said.

Sitting next to Biden during Monday’s announcements, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown called for “genuine partnership” with the US.

As the region engaged with the US, “we do so with a clear understanding that our voice, our agency and our values are respected”, he said.

The summit comes just days before Washington’s long-standing strategic agreements with the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau are set to expire.

The Compacts of Free Association are pacts that grant the US military access to each nation’s land, air and sea in exchange for financial help and permission for their citizens to legally live, work and go to school in the US.

Biden on Monday said the US had “signed a new economic agreement with Micronesia and Palau” and that his administration was “aiming to do the same for the Marshall Islands as well”. The pacts expire on Saturday.

The Marshall Islands has demanded enhanced economic aid and “full compensation” for the health, environmental and cultural damage caused by 67 nuclear tests carried out in the country by the American government between 1946 and 1958.

A joint statement released by Biden and the Pacific island leaders on Monday described “the unique political relationship” between the US and the three Cofa countries as a “cornerstone of US-Pacific cooperation”.

“We underscore the paramount importance of the timely and successful completion of negotiations of, and the relevant domestic processes regarding agreements relating to, the Compacts of Free Association between the United States and these three Pacific island states and their subsequent implementation,” it said.

Later on Monday, Pacific leaders met with US climate envoy John Kerry. In the evening, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to host the leaders for a dinner.

On Tuesday, they will be hosted by Kerry alongside Samantha Power, USAID’s administrator, in a meeting addressing climate and oceans.

They will also be meeting members of Congress on Capitol Hill, and are slated to attend a round-table discussion with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to examine how Pacific economies can promote trade and investment.