Page 16 - IB September 2018 Edition

Politics

a Special Adviser on climate change and leaves the way open for an official visit to Papua New Guinea by
security, and the UN Security Council to Chinese President Xi Jingping, who will participate in a summit
appoint a special rapporteur to produce for island leaders in the lead up to APEC.
a regular review of global, regional and Chinese diplomacy, however, took a hit this week by the un-
national security threats caused by cli- precedented behaviour of a Chinese official during the official
mate change. Forum dialogue session. The Chinese delegate demanded the
right to speak in preference to Tuvalu Prime Minister Sopoaga,
Bad behaviour - China, Taiwan, the challenged the session chair over procedure and eventually
United States stormed from the room.
During the week, a large delegation The incident is tied to the broader tussle for hearts and minds
Forum host President Baron
Waqa. from the United States attended the Fo- in the region between Taiwan and China. There was also a dispute
rum, led by the Trump Administration’s over visas for the Chinese delegation to come to Nauru, which is
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. The United States hosted one of six Pacific island states aligned with Taiwan rather than
a breakfast meeting with Forum leaders, but it seems there was the People’s Republic.
no meeting of minds on the issue of climate change. Forum host Baron Waqa said that he would demand a formal
The communique states that “Leaders of Forum Island Coun- apology from China over the incident, and was clearly angry at
tries called on the United States to return to the Paris Agreement the conduct shown in the dialogue session.
on Climate Change” Did Australia and New Zealand decline to “Disrespecting the Pacific, the Forum island leaders and other
join their island counterparts in this call? ministers who have come to join us in the Pacific, in our terri-
Secretary Zinke, a former US Navy SEAL, affirmed the US en- tory, in our little corner of the world! Look, he’s a nobody, he’s
gagement in the broad Indo-Pacific theatre: “It’s our position that not even a minister. Never mind that they are our partners, they
the United States is not a dominating force, we’re a partner….Our should not disrespect us. There are protocols to be respected.”
message is that the United States is here, we have always been Islands Business approached the Chinese delegation for a
here and our focus more recently has been towards the Pacific.” response, but they declined to comment.
This commitment to the region, however, is undercut by the
actions of the Trump administration, such as the decision to Creating space to talk
withdraw from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the This incident highlights a broader problem. As more and more
refusal to commit the remaining US$2 billion of the 2014 US global players look to the islands region to search for resources
pledge to the Green Climate Fund. The recent announcement that or promote their strategic interests, they bring their agendas into
President Trump will not attend this November’s APEC summit the annual Forum meeting. This can crowd out the priorities of
in Port Moresby – a key regional initiative – is another signal. Pacific island countries and clash with local ways of working.
Despite the likely presence of US Vice President Mike Pence, it The size of the annual meeting, with numerous side events,

Smaller Island States stake their ground

SMALLER Island States have called for more urgent ac- of the 28th Smaller Island States
tion on climate change, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Leaders Meeting.”
Climate Change prepares to launch a major report on the Despite the bureaucratic language,
implications of 1.5 degrees Celsius rise in temperature above it’s a significant statement.
pre-industrial levels. Islands Business asked Tuva-
The SIS grouping with the Pacific Islands Forum includes lu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga
the most vulnerable Forum Island Countries with small whether this was the first time that
populations: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Forum leaders (with one exception)
Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Is- had fully endorsed rather than sim-
lands and Tuvalu. ply noted the SIS agenda.
Leaders of the SIS met in Nauru two days before the an- “You’re very, very observant in
nual Forum leaders retreat, then worked to advance their that – I was hoping that no one would SIS Leader Enele Sopoaga
agenda in the larger meeting alongside larger nations like pick it up,” he said “But it’s there.
Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. It speaks volumes…the issues there are critical to leaders of
The SIS meeting called on “members of the international smaller island states. They are in that grouping because of
community to urgently accelerate the achievements of their vulnerability to issues of climate change.”
greenhouse gas reductions to limiting global temperature “It has been tradition to simply ‘note’– this time, we have ap-
rise to 1.5 degree Celsius” and “for the urgent resolution pealed for the Forum leaders, the wider grouping, to ‘endorse,’
and adoption of the rule book of the Paris Agreement.” so that we can walk the talk and work further to elaborate on
As the SIS states joined the wider Forum retreat, they the issues the SIS leaders have raised.”
pushed hard for their concerns to be addressed. In con- Sopoaga declined to name the country that qualified its
sequence, the Forum communique recorded that “With support for the SIS agenda, but agreed that people might look
qualification, Leaders endorsed the Summary of Decisions to the alphabet: “Yes, the name of the qualifier, or seeking

16 Islands Business, September 2018