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Pacific Islands Forum

The is the region’s premier political and economic policy organisation. Fostering stability and security within the region is a key objective. Stability and security, at the regional and national level, are the cornerstones for economic growth and investment, sustainable development, and effective government. The Pacific Island Forum as an organisation has been empowered by its leaders to take a more active role in addressing potential or actual situations of instability.

Founded in 1971 to enhance cooperation between the territories and countries of the Pacific, including through a trading bloc, the forum is headquartered in Fiji. The bloc spans more than 8.5 million square kilometers of the region and 11 time zones, and is home to nearly 39 million people [of whom Australia accounts for 25 million and New Zealand another 4 million].

Founded in 1971, it comprises 18 members: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The Forum’s Pacific Vision is for a region of peace, harmony, security, social inclusion and prosperity, so that all Pacific people can lead free, healthy, and productive lives. The Pacific Islands Forum works to achieve this by fostering cooperation between governments, collaboration with international agencies, and by representing the interests of its members.

Since 1989, the Forum has organised an annual meeting with key Dialogue Partners at Ministerial level. The Forum recognises 18 dialogue partners: Canada, People’s Republic of China, Cuba, European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States. The work of the Forum is guided by the Framework for Pacific Regionalism, which was endorsed by Forum Leaders in July 2014. It sets out the strategic vision, values, objectives and approaches to achieve deeper regionalism in the Pacific.

The Pacific is relatively stable, and is not expected to face a direct military threat from outside the region. However, many Pacific islands face chronic social, economic, environmental and governance issues that may make them fragile in terms of potential conflicts, and a potential target for terrorist activity and crime. Many Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific (such as low-lying Pacific island states such as Kiribati, Tuvalu and Tokelau) may be disproportionately vulnerable to the potential effects of climate change. There is limited capacity in the Pacific to build resilience to and allow for adequate preparedness for disasters.

Integration in the Pacific has proceeded by fits and starts ever since former British colonies in the region attained their independence. It was obvious that the smaller island states could not provide all the facilities of modern living for themselves, but must rely on co-operation with their neighbors if they are to have any hope of moving beyond a subsistence lifestyle.

The South Pacific Forum was established in 1971 to foster co-operation between them, as a successor to the South Pacific Commission of colonial days, and in 1999 itsname was changed to the Pacific Islands Forum to reflect a wider geographicreach.The heads of government of the Pacific Islands Forum currently hold an annualmeeting to discuss matters of common interest in the region. There are eighteenmembers, consisting of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, WesternSamoa, Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Cook Islands,Micronesia, Nauru, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Palau, and Niue, plus recent newmembers New Caledonia and French Polynesia. There is enormous variation insize and resources between them, ranging from Australia with 25 million inhabitants to tiny Niue with 1600.

A wide-ranging “Pacific Plan” for the future developmentof the Pacific region was drafted in 2007. The Pacific Plan for regional cooperation gave new impetus to enhanced cooperation and development of regional resources. But implementation of the Plan was stymied by the 2006 military coup and interregnum in Fiji (the headquarters of the Pacific Islands Forum), led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama. Fiji was suspended from membership in the Forum in 2009, and this suspension was not lifted until after a measure of democracy was restored, and a Fijian general election was held in September 2014.

The day-to-day activities are carried out by the Forum Secretariat [PIFSecretariat] based in Suva, Fiji, with around 100 staff members. Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat mission is to ensure the effective implementation of the Leaders’ decisions for the benefit of the people of the Pacific. Goals are to stimulate economic growth and enhance political governance and security for the region, through the provision of policy advice; and to strengthen regional cooperation and integration through coordinating, monitoring and evaluating implementation of Leaders’ decisions.

Pacific Islands Forum provide:

• Policy advice and guidance in implementing the decisions of the Leaders
• Coordination and assistance in implementing the decisions of the Leaders
• Support to the Leaders' meetings, ministerial meetings, and associated committees and working groups

Pacific Island countries have played an increasingly important part in United Nations proceedings. All independent Pacific Islands Forum countries are UN members. Over the past quarter century the countries of the Pacific Islands Forum have had some extraordinary successes in pursuing their objectives on the world stage.

The Pacific faces challenges in maintaining fish stocks for future generations. The Pacific region has abundant resources, including fisheries. It is thought that approximately 65 percent of global tuna catch comes from Pacific Island Forum states’ waters. The annual tuna catches have increased from 1.5 million metric tonnes (MT) in the 1990s to 2.1 million MT in 2006 with an estimated value of USD 3 billion. Illegal fishing and the refusal of some fishing nations to agree to strong monitoring and surveillance measures threatens the long-term sustainability of the region's tuna resources. Japan has questioned the legality of a 2008 decision by some PICs to prohibit foreign fishing vessels from fishing in the international waters between their EEZs (so-called "donut holes"). All the monitoring mechanisms implemented for other oceans have ultimately failed, and the Pacific is approaching a tipping point that could lead to unsustainability. The estimates (USD 6 billion) of the illegal fishing catch are double that of the legal reported catch.

A number of Pacific islands face challenges of governance. These arise from weak or corroded institutions of state, capacity and human resource constraints, and an uneasy tension between traditional ‘wantok’ power systems, and contemporary demands for transparent accountable government. Sadly, parochialism and corruption are too often the result. Poor governance can affect not only internal stability and equitable development but it can also undermine the sustainable management of scarce natural resources such as fisheries, forests, and minerals These are vital to the future viability of the Pacific states as economic entities.

The region consists of small underdeveloped countries scattered throughout the area, reliant on external aid and facing an uncertain economic future. Although there is marked variation in the soundness of their political systems and social cohesion, there is an underlying fragility to many of these states. A number lack robust institutions and a sound corporate governance regime. Some are politically unstable and highly susceptible to the influences of countries willing to provide assistance. Polynesian countries such as Samoa have proved relatively successful post colonial states, but much of Melanesia is plagued by poor state performance, with negative economic growth, ethnic conflict, weak governance and military coups all signalling the failure of states to provide basic security and public services to their citizens.

The geographic and cultural differences that divide the member states have caused friction in the past, although growing competition for power in the Pacific makes this new threat to the coherence of the region more serious. Japan has traditionally been one of the strongest supporters of the forum and has hosted the Pacific Islands' Leaders Meeting (PALM) every three years since 1997. Many of these islands were part of the Japanese empire in the early decades of the last century and, in the years after the war, Japan worked very hard to rebuild close working relationships with their governments," he told DW. "A lot of Japanese development aid has been invested in projects throughout the Pacific. The citizens of these islands today have a good impression and image of Japan.

Japan has historic ties to the region and the US is obviously keeping a close eye on the situation, but Australia and New Zealand have long seen this region as their sphere of influence and have built up longstanding relationships through the use of development aid and education. Unfortunately, that model cannot compete with the sort of money that China is apparently happy to spend. Virtually all of these island nations have very one-dimensional economies that are heavily reliant on the tourism industry, and that has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

China’s approach to engagement with the Pacific Islands, including the general lack of political conditions attached to its aid, to promote, for example, human rights and civil society development, could complicate the efforts to promote good governance and sustainable development in the Pacific.

Beijing’s increasing influence in the Pacific Islands region has led some analysts to raise concerns that China could erode U.S. influence, which would have implications for US military access in the region. According to Dean Cheng, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, “If Beijing established a political foothold [in the region over the long term] it could persuade these states not to extend access to the U.S., as well as arrange for Chinese access.” Cheng notes this Chinese access may not be bases but rather surveillance and reconnaissance sites to monitor nearby US military facilities and testing sites.

There has been widespread concern in Australia over the increaseof Chinese influence in the Pacific region, brought to a head by the possibility that China might even try to set up a military base in Vanuatu. The Chinese government has been suspected of using ‘debt-trap’ diplomacy, offering large loans to countries in the region under their ‘Belt and Road’ initiative, which the recipients may have trouble repaying, thus being forced to offer concessions or facilities to the Chinese in return for forgiveness of the loans.

The Pacific Islands Forum – the region's most influential body that is long supported by Japan, the United States, Australia and New Zealand – is on the brink of collapsing after five of the 18 member states announced their withdrawal in a dispute over the leadership of the organization. The former Cook Islands Prime Minister, Henry Puna was elected the new Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum after a marathon online meeting 04 February 2021. Puna was voted in over Micronesia's candidate Marshall Islands Ambassador to the US, Gerald Zackious by nine to eight. Other contenders were Tongan economist Amelia Kinahoi Siamomua, Fiji's former foreign minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, and Jimmie Rodgers of Solomon Islands, formerly the director general of the Pacific Community.

Micronesian states threatened to leave the Forum if the role wasn't given to their candidate, saying that it was Micronesia's turn, citing a pledge to rotate the post by sub-region. But Polynesian and Melanesian countries backed their own candidates. The five Micronesian member states of the Pacific Island Forum decided 9 February 2021 to quit the organisation in response to the appointment of a Cook Islander as the new Secretary General. The presidents of Nauru, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Palau issued a joint communique, saying they agree to start to initiate the formal process of leaving the Forum.