Increasing pressure from Beijing on the small Pacific Island states to which it provides extensive funding—either as aid or investment in projects that benefit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—has caused visible cracks in the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) for the first time.
Members have been forced to take a position on banning Taiwan from attending the organisation’s upcoming leaders’ meeting in September in the Solomon Islands.
It marks a major departure from the Forum’s longstanding and, until now, unanimously upheld policy of being “friends to all, enemies to none.”
Since its founding in 1971, the Forum has brought together 18 members to discuss common issues. The Forum has long invited partners along as observers and limited participants. Currently, there are 21 development partners, including near neighbours like Indonesia and those far removed from the Pacific, like France. And, since 1990, China….
Beijing’s Wedge Politics Threatens Pacific Islands Forum Unity Over Taiwan
