Washington is nearing deals with two Pacific island nations to extend ties considered critical to countering China’s influence in a region where Beijing is expanding its economic, diplomatic and military clout.
The US this week signed memorandums of understanding with the Marshall Islands and Palau — which are diplomatic allies of Taiwan — that could facilitate quick completion of broader agreements that would govern relations with Washington for the next two decades.
Those ties provide substantial aid to the islands in return for military rights and other security needs.
Photo: AP
The administration believes that extending so-called Compacts of Free Association agreements is key to retaining power and blunting Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
The memorandums define the amounts of money that Washington would provide to the Marshall Islands and Palau if their compacts are successfully renegotiated. Talks on a similar memorandum with Micronesia are also in progress.
The current 20-year compacts with the Marshall Islands and Micronesia expire this year. The one with Palau expires next year, but Washington officials said they believe all three can be renewed and signed by June.
Officials would not discuss specifics of the amounts of money involved because the deals are not yet binding and must be reviewed and approved by the US Congress as part of the budget process.
The Micronesian daily the Marianas Variety on Thursday reported that the Marshall Islands is to receive US$700 million over four years under the memorandum that it signed. However, that amount would cover only 20 percent of a 20-year compact extension, and does not include the amount Palau would receive.
US negotiator Joe Yun said the amounts are to be far greater than what the US provided in the past.
Yun said China was not specifically mentioned in the negotiations, but it was a major element in all sides’ discussions.
“The threat from China is unstated, but there is no question that China is a factor,” said Yun, who signed the memorandums in Los Angeles with representatives of the Marshall Islands and Palau on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Not only does China have a large and growing economic presence in the region, but the Marshall Islands and Palau both recognize Taiwan diplomatically.
“They are coming under Chinese pressure,” Yun said.
China has steadily poached allies from Taiwan in the Pacific, including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands in 2019. The US announced plans last year to reopen an embassy in the Solomon Islands, which has signed a security agreement with China.
Since World War II, the US has treated the Marshall Islands, along with Micronesia and Palau, much like territories. On the Marshall Islands, the US has developed military, intelligence and aerospace facilities in a region where China is particularly active.
In turn, US money and jobs have benefited the islands’ economy, while many islanders have the right to live and work in the US.
However, Pacific island residents and lawmakers have long said that the previous compacts they signed did not adequately address their needs or long-term environmental and health issues caused by US nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s.
Yun said the Marshall Islands in particular would be compensated for such damage and would be given control over how that money is spent.
Yun said it would pay “nuclear-affected communities’ health, welfare and development,” adding that the US had committed to building a new hospital and a museum in the Marshall Islands to preserve the legacy of their role, notably in the Pacific theater during World War II.
This week’s signings clear the way for individual federal agencies — including the US Postal Service, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and National Weather Service — to negotiate their own agreements with the Marshall Islands and Palau.
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