Joe Biden wants to snatch Pacific islands from Chinese attraction

Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: 14:50 pm, September 24, 2023

An American football game, new embassies and various and varied aids: Joe Biden pulls out the big game for the leaders of the Pacific islands, hoping to wrest them from the force of attraction of China. The US president is organizing Monday and Tuesday the second "Summit of the United States and the Pacific Islands Forum", almost a year to the day after the first edition, which also took place in Washington.

The US executive is expected to announce on this occasion, according to senior officials, a stronger diplomatic footprint, infrastructure projects, and enhanced maritime cooperation, in particular to combat illegal fishing. The Pacific Islands Forum brings together 18 States and territories scattered throughout the Pacific Ocean, a heterogeneous group that includes both a great Power such as Australia and micro-states and archipelagos with very sparsely populated populations. French Polynesia, for example, is part of this organization.

"It's obvious that China is playing some role in all of this, it's obvious that its ambitions and influence in this region are a reason for us to continue our strategic offensive," a senior White House official, who requested anonymity, said in an interview with reporters.

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A noticeable absence

Chinese influence will also manifest itself in the absence on Monday and Tuesday of the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, now closely allied with Beijing. Manasseh Sogavare, after participating in the UN General Assembly in New York, did not wish to extend his American stay. "We are disappointed" by this absence, acknowledged another senior White House official.

The Americans are also holding complicated discussions to renew, before the deadline of 30 September, their "Free Association Agreement" with the Marshall Islands. This agreement, as Washington also has with Micronesia and Palau, other territories formerly under US administration, allows the United States to have a military presence there. In exchange, they provide economic assistance and security guarantees. The inhabitants of these islands are free to reside and work in the United States.

The Marshall Islands calls for Washington to take into account, in any new partnership, the effects of its massive nuclear testing campaigns in the 1940s and 1950s. The Biden administration hopes to announce "very significant progress" in these negotiations, according to the senior official already quoted. For the summit itself, the US executive has prepared a rich program, which will begin on a sporting note.

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Cooperation to fight illegal fishing

The leaders invited to the United States will be transported Sunday by train to the port city of Baltimore (east) where they will be the guests of honor of a game of the local American football team, the Ravens. This will be followed on Monday by meetings and lunch with Joe Biden, and then, until Tuesday, several talks with ministers on climate and the economy, as well as meetings in Congress.

The United States will announce diplomatic ties with the Cook Islands and Niue, a tiny territory with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants. Washington has opened embassies in the Solomon Islands and Tonga, and wants to inaugurate one early next year in Vanuatu. The Americans will also unveil aid in terms of infrastructure, particularly in the field of submarine communication cables.

The Biden administration finally intends to propose to the Pacific islands to join the "Quad", this forum of defense cooperation that brings together the United States, Australia, India and Japan, in maritime surveillance, particularly to track down vessels engaged in illegal fishing.