Micronesia, like several island nations, has opposed a controversial security agreement with China.
by and
One of the smallest states in the world, micronesia, has just inflicted an improbable diplomatic setback on the Chinese giant. While Indo-Pacific is the new field of confrontation between the United States and China, Beijing was trying a bold blow: to have the South Pacific States of the Cooperation Agreements which would have placed them in its orbit would sign by its orbit . Wang Yi, the Chinese Foreign Minister, is currently undertaking a ten -day trip to tour less populated than a small Chinese town. Leaving on May 26, he was successively to go to the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Eastern Timor. He also had to carry out a “virtual visit” in micronesia and have interviews by video with his counterparts from the Cook and Niue Islands.
The Fijian stage, on May 29 and 30, was the most important. This is where a meeting between Wang Yi and all of his colleagues was held. Beijing’s objective was to conclude agreements reinforcing cooperation in various sectors, such as the economy, but also the mapping of seabed, the exploitation of natural resources, and especially the training of the police and the cybersecurity.
But in a letter sent in May to his counterparts, the president of the micronesia pulled the alarm signal. The draft agreement, largely preoreded by China, aims to substitute a multilateral relationship – China on one side, the South Pacific on the other – with current bilateral relations and to “guide the loyalty of the Pacific in its direction” , he explains. In the summer of 2021, micronesia signed an agreement with the United States allowing Washington to install a military base.
Monday, despite a message sent by President Xi Jinping, the Pacific managers declared that they did not accept the “common vision of development” proposed by Beijing, due to the lack of regional consensus. In addition to micronesia, the Papua New Guinea and the Samoa – as well as the Palaos, who diplomatically recognize Taiwan and were not invited to this meeting – would have opposed the designs of China. This must therefore be satisfied with an agreement relating in particular to agriculture, climate change and poverty reduction. Beijing refuses to speak of failure and affirms that “discussions continue”, publishing, in the process, a “paper position” on his relations with the South Pacific. This includes a “vision” at 15 points as well as 24 concrete commitments. None of these concerns security.
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