Mike Pompeo yesterday became the first US secretary of state to visit Micronesia, as Washington has signaled a renewed interest in its Pacific allies, no matter how small, in the face of regional competition with China.
In the meantime, China has launched a regional charm offensive that has alarmed US President Donald Trump’s administration, offering infrastructure loans and seemingly trying to have the Marshall Islands and Palau break off diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Pompeo touched down on the island of Pohnpei, where he was to spend a few hours meeting leaders from the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as neighboring nations such as Palau and the Marshall Islands.
Photo: AFP
The diplomatic courtship followed a visit by Pacific island leaders to the White House earlier this year, part of a US drive for a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region to counter China’s increasingly muscular and expansionist policies.
“It’s still a major strategic area, and this isn’t new,” a senior State Department official said, citing past ties. “Now, the level of interaction is clearly elevated.”
Over the past year, the US has “worked aggressively” to shore up its position in the Pacific region, considering it “of significant strategic interest,” Elizabeth Economy of the Council on Foreign Relations said.
Hugging the equator, the Federated States of Micronesia are scattered along nearly 3,000km of the Pacific, a significant area given Sino-American disputes over freedom of navigation in ocean waterways.
Washington is no stranger to Micronesia — which brings together four island states and more than 600 islands and atolls — thanks to a compact that guarantees US development aid and military protection.
Formerly part of the Caroline Islands, which were US trust territories, the federation signed a Compact of Free Association with the US after gaining independence more than three decades ago.
Those agreements are set to be renewed in the coming years.
“The US can no longer afford to take the Pacific islands for granted,” Economy said.
The nations’ major point of difference with the US remains climate change — an existential challenge for low-lying nations, but a trend that the Trump administration has variously dismissed as a hoax or unimportant.
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