The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) yesterday apologized for its handling of a leadership row that prompted five nations to quit the grouping, but one of the leading dissenters said that it meant nothing without remedial action.
The dispute erupted in February, splitting the forum and upending diplomacy in a region where the US and China are competing for influence.
Micronesian countries, angry their preferred candidate for PIF secretary-general was snubbed when it was their turn to fill the role, announced that they would leave the 18-member body.
This week, senior forum members held a virtual meeting with the Micronesian leaders to discuss the rift and look at “restoring the solidarity of the PIF.”
PIF Chairman Kausea Natano said that there were “open and frank” talks with the Micronesian members, comprising Palau, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia.
“It was an opportunity for the forum to directly express to the Micronesian leaders our regret and apologies for the current circumstances facing our forum family,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Natano said that he was working with the Micronesians to seek “an amicable way forward to this impasse.”
However, his apology was dismissed by Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr, who said the only way that the Micronesians would rejoin the forum was if incoming secretary-general Henry Puna agreed to step aside.
“Sorry for what? An apology should come with a remedy, so I assume they’re working on a remedy,” Whipps said. “What I’ve always said is if Puna’s in, Micronesia’s out — so I hope they’re heading in that direction.”
Puna, a former prime minister of the Cook Islands, has kept a low profile since he defeated Micronesia’s candidate, Marshallese Ambassador to the US Gerald Zackios, by a single vote in February.
However, he told the Cook Islands News last week that he intended to take up the role, then push “as hard and as fast as I can, so that the forum family will remain intact and complete.”
The PIF is mostly made up of small Pacific island states, along with Australia and New Zealand, and is a key element of the US allies’ diplomatic efforts in the region.
It has become influential on the issue of climate change, amplifying the voice of many of the region’s small island states that are threatened by rising seas and ever-more intense typhoons.
The spat provides a potential opening for China to boost its influence with the sparsely populated, but strategically important Pacific island nations, which would alarm the US and Australia.
URGENT CALL: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency pleaded to gain access to the plant, saying ‘every principle of nuclear safety has been violated The UN’s nuclear chief on Tuesday warned that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine “is completely out of control,” and issued an urgent plea to Russia and Ukraine to quickly allow experts to visit the sprawling complex to stabilize the situation and avoid a nuclear accident. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi said in an interview that the situation is getting more perilous every day at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in the southeastern city of Enerhodar, which Russian troops seized in early March, soon after their Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. “Every principle of nuclear safety has been
On a beach in the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen, just a few kilometers from Taiwan’s Kinmen, life is carefree, despite some of the worst cross-strait tensions in decades. Ignoring warnings from Beijing, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday — the highest-ranking elected US official to visit the nation in 25 years — sparking a diplomatic firestorm. China yesterday launched some of its largest-ever military drills — exercises set to disrupt one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. However, on Xiamen’s palm-fringed beach, there was little concern. “A war? No, I don’t care,” a young IT worker surnamed
According to Forrest Gump, life is like a box of chocolates because “you never know what you’re going to get.” Now, an Indian remake of the movie has been hit by boycott calls over years-old comments by its Muslim star, Aamir Khan. It is the latest example of how Bollywood actors, particularly minority Muslims such as Khan, are feeling increased pressure under Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Modi. Laal Singh Chaddha, an Indian spin on the 1994 Hollywood hit with Tom Hanks, is expected to be one of India’s biggest films of the year. This is due in large part to its
ACROPORA REVIVAL: A marine science official said that the results of recent studies showed that the reef can still recover in periods that are free of intense disturbances Parts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef now have the highest levels of coral cover in decades, an Australian government report said yesterday. Portions of the UNESCO heritage site showed a marked increase in coral cover in the past year, reaching levels not seen in 36 years of monitoring, the Australian Institute of Marine Science said. Scientists surveying 87 sites said that northern and central parts of the reef had bounced back from damage more quickly than some had expected, thanks mainly to fast-growing Acropora — a branching coral that supports thousands of marine species. “These latest results demonstrate the reef can still recover
RSS