Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) is to attend an annual gathering of Pacific Island leaders in Palau next week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, after Taiwan and other non-members of the bloc were barred from the event last year.
Lin departs for Palau today to attend meetings coinciding with the 55th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) summit, to be held in Koror from Sunday to Sept. 4, the ministry said.
Events include the Taiwan/Republic of China-Forum Countries Dialogue and the Pacific Prosperity Exhibit, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The exhibit showcases Taiwan’s ongoing efforts to help its Pacific partners in areas such as digital resilience, renewable energy, smart medicine and healthcare, infrastructure and social empowerment, the ministry said.
Lin is leading a delegation with representatives from the energy, technology, food, construction and agricultural sectors, the ministry said.
The minister plans to visit Palauan President Surangel Whipps, Jr. and Vice President Raynold B. Oilouch, and inspect a Taiwan-funded project in Palau — the development of the Belau National Hospital’s artificial intelligence system — to see its progress and discuss future cooperation, the ministry said.
He is to meet with “Taiwan’s Pacific allies and other friendly nations to discuss deepening Taiwan’s partnerships with Pacific Island nations and jointly maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region,” it said.
Although not a member of the PIF, Taiwan has been a “development partner” in PIF mechanisms since 1993. It usually holds the Taiwan/Republic of China-Forum Countries Dialogue and other side events alongside the PIF’s annual summit.
However, the Solomon Islands, the host of last year’s meeting, barred Taiwan from attending at the time.
This resulted in all external countries being disinvited, despite the island states’ reliance on foreign aid and investment, and the PIF Leaders’ Meeting was attended only by the bloc’s 18 member states.
China has poached several of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in the Pacific as part of its efforts to expand its dominance in the region and isolate Taiwan from the international community.
PIF members Nauru, Kiribati and Solomon Islands have all switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing since 2019.
Reports suggested that the Solomon Islands sought to block Taiwan’s participation due to coercion from Beijing.
This year’s host, Palau, is among Taiwan’s 12 remaining diplomatic partners, along with Pacific nations Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.
China’s test-firing last month of a missile into the Pacific alarmed regional powers, but failed to spur a unified response from Pacific Island governments, underscoring divisions over how to confront growing strategic competition in the region.
China has expanded its influence in the Pacific in the past few years through infrastructure financing, diplomatic outreach and security cooperation, which has prompted concern among traditional partners including Australia, New Zealand and the US.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lin’s visit to Palau.
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