China is making an audacious attempt to muscle in on the Pacific's most important high-level gathering, pushing for a meeting with the region's foreign ministers on the same day leaders come together in Fiji for the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
The ABC has been told that Beijing has invited ministers from all 10 Pacific Island states it has diplomatic relations with to a virtual meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 14.
The timing is deeply contentious because that is the same day Pacific leaders are due to hold their final retreat at the end of the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Fiji's capital Suva.
The PIF leaders meeting is particularly crucial this year because it is their first in-person gathering since the pandemic hit in 2020.
They last met face-to-face in Tuvalu in 2019.
The forum is also hoping to use the meeting in Fiji to heal a damaging internal split over leadership after a small group of leaders struck an interim deal in Suva earlier this month.
It has already moved to postpone a formal in-person dialogue with PIF dialogue partners — including the United States and China – partly because some Pacific representatives do not want intensifying geo-strategic competition in the region to weigh too heavily on the meeting in Fiji.
Pacific leaders push back against China's meeting proposal
But Beijing's proposal to hold its own meeting with the Pacific leaders during the forum seems to signal that the Chinese Foreign Ministry remains determined to push forward its agenda during a crucial week of regional diplomacy.
One Western government official told the ABC that at least two Pacific Island states were pushing back against the proposal because they did not believe the timing was appropriate.
Pacific Island foreign ministers last met the Chinese minister just one month ago, when he hosted them for a virtual meeting from Fiji in the midst of a long Pacific tour.
Mr Wang was forced to shelve a sweeping regional economic and security pact with the Pacific in the wake of that meeting after some countries raised concerns.
Federated States of Micronesia President David Panuelo warned the deal could stoke geopolitical tensions and undermine the sovereignty of the Pacific, while Samoa's Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, suggested the process had been rushed.
Pacific expert Anna Powles from Massey University told the ABC "very little" was currently known about the meeting but it seemed to be part of China's broader attempts to sideline the PIF.
"It appears to be an attempt to deliberately disrupt existing regional mechanisms which China is not a part of," she said.
"The proposed economic and security pact between China and the 10 Pacific countries reflected Beijing's interest in creating competing regional mechanisms.
"Scheduling a meeting to be held on the final day of the PIF leaders meeting could be seen in this light."
Dr Powles predicted the meeting was "unlikely" to go ahead given some Pacific nations were uncomfortable with the idea.
"This also suggests that Beijing hasn't learned any lessons from overplaying it's diplomatic hand in May," she said.
Australia among those vowing to 'increase ambition' in the Pacific
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson did not comment directly on China's proposal, simply saying: "Australia looks forward to participating in the Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting."
"We respect the right of our Pacific partners to choose with whom they engage and how," they said.
The controversy comes as strategic competition continues to intensify in the region.
Over the weekend, Australia signed up to a new "Partners in Blue Pacific" initiative with the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and New Zealand.
The five countries are vowing to coordinate their efforts in the region more effectively and intensify efforts to tackle a range of issues ranging from climate change to illegal fishing.
A joint statement issued by the countries says they want to "increase ambition" in the region.
"We will map existing projects and plan future ones, seeking to drive resources, remove duplication, and close gaps, which will avoid greater burdens and lost opportunities for Pacific governments and Pacific people," it says.
The statement also repeatedly emphasises the importance of the PIF, vowing to "further elevate Pacific regionalism, with a strong and united Pacific Islands Forum at its centre, as a vital pillar of the regional architecture and of our respective approaches in the region".
But the Financial Times cited a United States official saying there was also an "undeniable security component" to America's push to re-engage with the Pacific.
The newspaper quoted the official saying that the United States might take "security steps" to "buttress" its position in the region, suggesting it was contemplating boosting its military presence.
"I imagine we're going to have more ship visits, more engagement. And there may be even something a little bit more permanent," the paper quoted him saying.
The ABC has contacted the Chinese embassy in Canberra about the proposed meeting but it has not yet responded.
