Will’s Word: The Pacific Islands Forum feels like the United Nations 2.0

Next month's big Pacific Islands forum in Honiara just got a whole lot smaller. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele has pushed through a plan to shut the door on more than two dozen dialogue partners.

Think the US, China, Taiwan, and send them packing until 2026 and the forum's foreign ministers have given him the green light. Here’s the thing, I get it, over the years the forum's been looking less like a family talanoa and more like a United Nations.

The agenda is arguably bloated and the Pacific voice is often drowned out by big power posturing. Maybe a breather isn't the worst idea if it means we get back to the real point: Pacific countries talking to each other without the outside noise.

But then on the flip side, the timing. We're in the middle of the most intense geopolitical tug-of-war the region's seen in decades. The US, China, all jockeying for influence. So slamming the door now?

It risks looking less like reform and more like Honiara picking favourites, or at least avoiding a few hundred conversations. Fiji's Sitiveni Rabuka put it pretty bluntly when he said it could blow up decades of Pacific unity.

New Zealand's Winston Peters is warning about external influences, which is diplomat-speak for we don't trust the motives. Honestly, that's the question, is this about protecting the forum's independence or protecting someone's political comfort zone?

Listen to Will’s Word on Facebook below.

If Manele pulls this off and uses the time to genuinely reset how the forum engages with partners, it could be a masterstrike. But if it's just about keeping certain voices out, we might end up with a forum that's quieter but no stronger.

Let's be honest, deciding who's in the room isn't housekeeping. In the Pacific, it's power and politics and right now, the rest of us are still figuring out whose game we're actually playing.

That's Will's Word.