Jacinda Ardern says total membership is “critical” for the Pacific Islands Forum in the wake of the shock departure of Kiribati on the eve of the event.
Days after she called for regional cooperation in the face of China’s rise, the prime minister, who is travelling to the forum on Monday, said the meeting “comes at a critical time for the Pacific, with the region facing climate, environmental, governance, and human development challenges, as well as sharpening geostrategic competition”.
“The challenges our region faces are New Zealand’s too … This meeting is about us as a Pacific region establishing our own priorities and working together collectively to achieve them,” she said.
Last week, the prime minister again called for strengthening of regional cooperation and ties in the Pacific, as it becomes subject to fierce geopolitical focus from the US and China.
But the forum’s cohesion has already been dealt a blow by member-country Kiribati’s shock announcement of its departure, citing failures to adequately address the concerns of Micronesian countries who had threatened to leave PIF in 2021.
Taneti Maamau, the president of Kiribati, said in a leaked letter to the PIF secretary general that: “Kiribati has taken the sovereign decision to withdraw from the Pacific Islands Forum with immediate effect. This decision was not taken lightly.”
Speaking at parliament on Monday, Ardern said the country’s departure was “disappointing” but not a “wider sign of disunity”.
Asked about the departure, Ardern told Breakfast television on Monday that leaders had been trying for some time to persuade Kiribati to stay.
“Ultimately, I will leave it to the forum to speak to forum unity. For our part, of course, we would love for there to be that total membership – it is so critical at this time. But that doesn’t stop us from being [able] to work together,” she said.
Ardern will travel to the forum in Suva alongside the foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta, and the minister of Pacific peoples, Aupito William Sio.
Kiribati’s withdrawal was “devastating” for regional solidarity and unity, said Dr Anna Powles of the centre for defence and security studies at Massey University.
“Losing Kiribati on the eve of this is deeply concerning, and quite shocking,” she said.
“Questions and concerns about regional unity and regional solidarity … are obviously also going to feature as part of the conversation. But these are ongoing conversations that have been had for a good year now,” she said.
Powles said that sending a full delegation – the prime minister plus two senior members – “supports New Zealand’s rhetoric about being part of the Pacific about being committed to the Pacific”.
Ardern and Mahuta had come under fire from opposition parties for not making enough in-person visits to the pacific, especially when China was pushing for a regional security pact.
“Given the criticism about the lack of on-the-ground visits to the Pacific by New Zealand’s prime minister and foreign minister … this will be a really important opportunity to match the rhetoric with presence and relationships and relationship building,” Powles said.
Mahuta was traveling to the forum on Monday and unavailable for comment, but said via a statement that the forum “is at the heart of our engagement with the region”.
