NZ raises alarm as Tuvalu considers PIF boycott over Solomons’ exclusion of partners

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is concerned after Tuvalu’s warning that it may boycott next month’s Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) meeting if dialogue partners are excluded.

Luxon’s comments follow Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo’s remarks in an interview with The Guardian that he would evaluate the reactions of other Pacific leaders before deciding whether to attend the upcoming leaders’ forum in Honiara. In July, Teo told Pacific Mornings that he'd been given "personal assurance" by the Solomon Islands prime minister that Taiwan would not be excluded.

But recently Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele confirmed the decision to exclude 21 donor countries, including the United States and China, from the leaders’ summit next month.

The 21 dialogue partners excluded from next month's Forum leaders' meeting are Canada, France, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, China, European Union, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Italy, Cuba, Spain, Turkey, Germany, Chile, Norway and Singapore. Taiwan is not an official PIF dialogue partner.

The decision will not affect the participation of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, or civil society groups, which have all been invited to the summit.

In a media briefing, Luxon reiterated his support for maintaining the current status quo regarding attendees of the PIF Leaders’ Meeting.

Foreign Affairs Minister Vaovasamanaia Winston Peters, left, and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele. Photo/Supplied

“We want all dialogue partners to be there,” Luxon says. “We think that’s important. We can still continue our regional architecture conversations, which we need to close out.”

Luxon confirmed he spoke with Foreign Affairs Minister Vaovasamanaia Winston Peters following the PIF Foreign Ministers Meeting in Suva last week.

“We’ve been advocating very strongly around the world that if you want to engage with the Pacific, the Pacific Islands Forum and its centrality should be respected,” Luxon says.

Dr Anna Powles, an associate professor of security studies at Massey University, says Tuvalu’s threat to not attend the PIF leaders' summit reflects widespread concerns about serious disunity within the region.

Pacific Island Forum headquarters in Suva, Fiji. Photo/PMN News/Ala Vailala

“So, I think if he [Teo] does not attend, it will be deeply concerning for the forum family. This is obviously not what Prime Minister Manele would be wanting. He would be wanting a successful leaders' meeting in his country," Powles says.

“But it's certainly looking like regional fragmentation is going to dominate the issues.”

Powles acknowledges that the exclusion of dialogue partners is an attempt to stop the Forum from becoming a “geopolitical circus” dominated by the US, China, and Taiwan.

She adds that relationships within the Pacific feel increasingly fractured.

“Officials are not always attending meetings. Ministers are not always showing up at regional meetings.

“So there's very strong concern that the region at which the Pacific Islands Forum is very much at the apex of the centre, that it is struggling now in a way that we probably haven't seen before for a long time.”

Listen to Dr Anna Powles' full interview below.