The small states in the Pacific Ocean with their huge sea areas are attracting more and more attention on the world stage.
Now the American President Joe Biden is holding a first summit with twelve heads of state and government in the White House.
The talks are part of the industrialized countries' new strategy to curb China's rapidly growing influence in recent years.
It's about military presence, securing essential trade routes, mineral resources under the seabed and the consequences of climate change.
After all, the votes of the island states also count, for example in United Nations votes.
Christopher Hein
Business correspondent for South Asia/Pacific based in Singapore.
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Winand von Petersdorff-Campen
Economic correspondent in Washington.
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The conflict between the power blocs is currently reflected in the dispute with the Solomon Islands.
The archipelago northeast of Papua New Guinea had severed long-standing ties with Washington's partner Taiwan and turned to Beijing.
A security agreement between the Solomon Islands and China in April raised concerns that Beijing could set up a military base on the island.
This had led to frenzied diplomacy by Australians and Americans.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare then assured the West that there would be no Chinese military installations on the islands.
Speaking at the United Nations assembly, Sogavare said, "The Solomon Islands cannot be forced to choose sides." He has seen his country subjected to an unfair campaign by the West since he sought rapprochement with China.
Anger has built up: The Solomon Islands refused a request from a US Coast Guard ship to refuel a ship a few days ago.
Now, diplomats from the archipelago have announced that they are refusing to approve the first drafts of a joint final declaration by the Pacific Island summit in the White House.
Tuvalu is loyal to the United States
Alongside the Solomon Islands are Fiji, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Nauru, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu with divergent interests and differing policies.
Tuvalu, for example, sits at the table in Washington as a loyal partner: The island state has maintained diplomatic relations with Taiwan for a good four decades, which makes it a valuable partner for the Americans.
Ahead of the Washington summit, President Kausea Natano will travel to Taipei to reaffirm diplomatic ties between the islands.
The West's diplomatic initiative is guided by the realization that the region has been criminally neglected and thus become a potential prey for China and its geostrategic ambitions: "In the past, we have paid less attention to critical regions than we should have done," said Kurt Campbell , Chief White House Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Relations.
At an event organized by the Carnegie think tank recently, he made it clear that financial aid is of course also an issue: people don't just want to listen, they want to put substantial resources on the table and make reliable commitments.
Programs to finance infrastructure are expected to arm the islands against the consequences of climate change.
In addition, the West wants to help countries stop illegal fishing and the illegal exploitation of mineral resources on the sea floor.
Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama put it succinctly: “Our biggest problem is not geopolitics – it is climate change.” However, the President of the Association of Micronesian States, David Panuelo, was just urging his counterpart in the Solomon Islands , not to make the ties to Beijing too tight.
He fears that otherwise the region could become the "epicenter of a future confrontation".
Interest of the industrialized countries in the island states is increasing
For months, the island states have been feeling a significant increase in interest from the industrialized countries: a quintet of Americans, Australians, British, Japanese and New Zealanders launched the Alliance for Partners in the Blue Pacific (PBP) at the end of June.
"The Pacific Islands region encompasses nearly one-fifth of the Earth's surface and grapples with many of the greatest challenges, from the climate crisis to the pandemic and growing pressure for a rules-based and open international order," the founding statement said.
In mid-July, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited the islands of the Palau Group for the first time.
Washington plans embassies in the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Tonga.
The Green Baerbock hit the floor between strategic importance and climate protection: "This is where the climate crisis touches the core of security," she said.
It was about “the security of existence”.
The example of Vanuatu shows how loudly the “sinking” island states are pushing for help against climate change: its government pushed ahead to demand a treaty on the non-proliferation of fossil fuels from the international community.
Modeled after the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the ban on landmines, it aims to prevent the world from accessing coal, gas or oil in the long term.
“Basic human rights are violated.
We don't measure climate change in degrees Celsius or tons of carbon dioxide, but in human lives," President Nikenike Vurobaravu told the United Nations General Assembly last week.
This alone shows the distance between the United States on the one hand and the Pacific Islands that are being courted by China.
Some island governments are speculating that playing the superpowers off against each other may be worthwhile.
In doing so, they follow Southeast Asia, which is increasingly successful in capitalizing on the rivalry between the United States and Japan on the one hand and China on the other.