As the US and China last week feuded at the UN General Assembly over the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, one of the world’s smallest states pleaded for detente.
“Micronesia asks our American and Chinese friends to reinforce their cooperation and friendship with each other ... to achieve what is best for our global community,” the Federated States of Micronesia President David Panuelo told the General Assembly in a video address.
Micronesia — with a population of about 113,000 — and its Pacific island neighbors have long been stuck in a diplomatic tug-of-war between the world’s biggest economic powers as China takes on US influence in a region Washington has considered its backyard since World War II.
During his Friday address to the gathering of world leaders — pre-recorded due to the COVID-19 pandemic — Panuelo acknowledged that competition had been beneficial for some people in the Pacific.
However, he warned that the efforts “also potentially threaten to fracture long-standing alliances within our Pacific community, and could become counterproductive to our collective desire for regional solidarity, security and stability.”
Micronesia’s plea stood out during the annual — yet virtual — gathering of world leaders at the UN, because while most countries called for unity to combat COVID-19, other references to US-China frictions were generally oblique.
International Crisis Group UN director Richard Gowan said that most leaders want to avoid getting entangled in the tensions.
“A lot of the UN’s members think the US is destructive and China is power-hungry. They don’t find either very appealing,” he said. “Ambitious Europeans like [French President Emmanuel] Macron see a chance to fill the leadership gap, so they are willing to challenge Beijing and Washington.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also warned that the world is heading in a dangerous direction and “cannot afford a future where the two largest economies split the globe in a great fracture — each with its own trade and financial rules, and Internet and artificial intelligence capacities.”
In the Pacific, China has been forging stronger economic ties with small island nations and drawing countries out of their long-term alliances with Taiwan, winning over Kiribati and the Solomon Islands in the past year.
Four of Taiwan’s remaining 15 diplomatic allies are in the Pacific — Palau, Nauru, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. All four states spoke in support of Taiwan during their leaders’ addresses to the UN.
Though tiny in land mass, Pacific nations control vast swaths of highly strategic waters, forming a boundary between the Americas and Asia.
As oceans warm and sea level rises, they are also on the front lines of the global climate crisis.
“It is my hope ... that the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China jointly champion global causes for global solidarity and cooperation, from climate change to COVID-19,” Panuelo said.
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