Tonga emerges as key beneficiary of new US Pacific investment push

Tonga is emerging as one of the biggest Pacific beneficiaries of a new investment push by the United States.

The support from Washingon covers energy security, government technology and digital infrastructure.

The package, announced by US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau at the Pacific Islands Forum Partners Dialogue in Palau on Tuesday, includes more than US$150 million (NZ$254.53 million) in support for Pacific countries.

It comes as Pacific leaders continue to push back against outside powers setting the region's priorities.

Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr, who opened the 55th Forum week, told leaders and delegates: “Our partners are welcome to sail with us, but they do not choose our destination.

"The Pacific agenda must be driven by us, for us, and the Forum must remain the political home in which that agenda is shaped,” the new Forum chair said.

Pacific leaders and international partners attend the Pacific Islands Forum Partners Dialogue in Palau, where new US support for the region was announced. Photo/Pacific Islands Forum

For Tonga, the US package includes support for a feasibility study looking at the modernisation of its national data centre and network.

The US also plans to support secure cloud migration for Tongan government data while Tonga is one of two countries, alongside Palau, where the Cloud Global Pacific Program will be expanded.

Energy is another major focus. A US$60m (NZ$101.81m) Regional Energy Security Initiative is being proposed to expand fuel storage and help improve grid stability across the Pacific.

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau announces new US support for the Pacific at the Forum Partners Dialogue in Palau as Washington expands its investment in the region. Photo/Pacific Islands Forum

Tonga is already working with the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) on a feasibility study to improve the kingdom's fuel transport and storage infrastructure.

The project aims to allow Tonga to receive larger fuel shipments directly, reducing the need for costly transfers through other countries.

It could also increase Tonga's fuel storage from about 15-20 days to around 60 days of supply.

Tonga imports all of its fuel, leaving the kingdom exposed to supply disruptions and changes in global prices.

Stéphane Cadel, Pacific Energy's Chief Executive, whose company is involved in the fuel infrastructure project, spoke about the project in comments released by the USTDA last month.

“The project we are announcing today, with USTDA, is the most significant energy sector development in the Kingdom of Tonga for decades,” Cadel said after the signing of an agreement with USTDA in Nuku'alofa on 13 August.

Pacific Energy chief executive Stéphane Cadel says a new fuel infrastructure project could significantly improve Tonga's long-term energy security. Photo/Pacific Energy

“Pacific Energy is very pleased to be carrying out this project, which will significantly improve the security and resilience of Tonga’s long term fuel supply.”

But the investment push is also raising questions about who gets to shape Tonga's development and how much say communities have in major decisions.

Olive Mafi, of the Civil Society Forum of Tonga, says external investment and commercial decisions can sometimes move ahead without genuine community ownership.

“The overwhelming majority of people who have taken part in national discussions want our future protected... What recent developments show is that major decisions are now coming with price tags set by outside powers or arbitrators in someone else's country.”

Mafi says sovereignty must also mean communities have the ability to make choices about their own resources and future.

“A sovereignty we cannot afford to use isn't really sovereignty. The ocean and our resources aren't just lines in a budget, they are our livelihoods, our identity, and the thing our young people expect to inherit.”

Olive Mafi of the Civil Society Forum of Tonga says Pacific communities must have a say in decisions affecting their resources, livelihoods and future. Photo/LinkedIn

Fiji is also seeking a pathway towards the eventual removal of the US visa bond requirement for its nationals.

Foreign Affairs and External Trade Minister Sakiasi Ditoka raised the issue with Landau during a bilateral meeting in Palau on Tuesday.

Fiji has proposed a technical-level working group with US officials to address visa compliance concerns and identify clear benchmarks that could support a review of the requirement.

The two sides also discussed Fiji's engagement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, human trafficking cooperation, and wider US involvement in Pacific peace and security.

The wider US package also includes US$17m (NZ$28.85m) to help Pacific countries tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The funding is expected to support stronger national laws and regulations, training for fisheries compliance officers and new technology to improve monitoring.

Fiji Foreign Affairs and External Trade Minister Sakiasi Ditoka, third from right, has raised the country's US visa bond requirement with US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau during a bilateral meeting in Palau. Photo/Pacific Islands Forum

Security is also part of Washington's expanded Pacific focus.

The US and Palau will co-chair a new US-Pacific Islands Conference of Police Ministers, focusing on maritime security, drug trafficking, cybercrime and illicit finance.

The US has also announced plans to support a second US-Pacific Islands Investment Summit in early 2027, following the first summit in Honolulu in February.

The Peace Corps is also looking to establish a North Pacific programme covering the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau.

The announcements are part of what Washington describes as a move towards commercial diplomacy and private sector-led growth in the Pacific.

But Pacific leaders are stressing that new investment and partnerships must support regional priorities than pull the Pacific deeper into the strategic contest between bigger powers.

Pacific Islands Forum's dialogue partners meet in Palau as the region looks to strengthen partnerships while keeping Pacific priorities at the centre of regional decision-making. Photo/Pacific Islands Forum

At the handover of the Forum chairmanship, a Solomon Islands representative and former Forum chair said the region's growing strategic importance should not come at the cost of its peace.

“Strategic competition has sharpened around us. The peace of our ocean has been challenged...

"Our partners are welcome and their support is valued, but they should help us realise our ambitions, not define them. Friendship and threat cannot travel in the same canoe.”

That message was echoed by Shuri Chibana, Palau youth representative and Pacific Regional Non-Government Organisations (PRNGO) Alliance spokesperson, during the Forum's dialogue with civil society and the private sector.

Watch PMN News Political Reporter Thomas Tarurongo Wynne's update from Palau below.

“Strategic competition is intensifying in our ocean precisely because our vulnerabilities are visible and our needs are urgent...

"Resilience cannot be built on a fuel tank we do not own, a price we do not set and a schedule we do not control.

"If the energy crisis has taught us anything, it is that Pacific resilience cannot mean becoming better at absorbing decisions made somewhere else,” Chibana said.

The US package follows a separate announcement that Washington and New Zealand will work with the Cook Islands to upgrade Penrhyn's Omoka Port, a project earlier reported by PMN News.