Pacific countries missed chance to condemn China missile test, New Zealand foreign minister says
- New Zealand and other Pacific nations pushed for a joint condemnation of China’s recent nuclear-capable missile test during the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Fiji, but faced resistance from China-friendly countries.
- The missile test alarmed nearby Tuvalu, where officials feared it could have triggered a tsunami, and the country has sought help from Australia, France, and the US to locate the warhead in nearby waters after failed talks with Beijing.
- While most Pacific Islands Forum members expressed concern, countries like Kiribati, Nauru, and Vanuatu, which have close ties to China, showed little interest in criticizing the missile test, likely resulting in a watered-down official statement.
- The meeting also focused on preparations for the upcoming leaders’ summit in Palau, including discussions on which external partners should attend, amid ongoing regional tensions involving China and Taiwan.
SUVA, Fiji — New Zealand and other Pacific nations pushed Friday for a joint statement condemning China’s recent test of a nuclear-capable missile but faced resistance as the region’s top diplomats met for an annual confab in Fiji.
Beijing gave only a handful of nations short notice before test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile last month, flexing its military might in a region where it has long sought to expand its reach.
The rocket appeared to land in a patch of ocean somewhere between Solomon Islands, Nauru and Tuvalu, monitors have said.
The missile test left people living in Tuvalu, the low-lying Pacific Island closest to where it landed, fearing it would trigger a tsunami, according to a senior official from the nation.
“Just imagine it yourself, it was like someone invaded your home,” Pasuna Tuaga, a senior Tuvalu foreign affairs official, said Friday on the sidelines of a Pacific Islands Forum meeting. “Just imagine if it was a real one? That’s the same question that we have put to the forum during the official meeting, do we have to wait until we are hit by a real one and then issue a statement?”
The comments come after New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters criticized the region’s countries, saying Pacific Island nations missed an opportunity to call out China for the missile test over the region.
“In the end, though, we’ll see whether logic prevails in this debate, or whether the debate has already been settled by people having a predetermined position from which they will not move,” he added.
While China’s actions sparked condemnation from multiple Pacific leaders, the 18-member group has yet to issue a formal response to the test.
“We want to send a very strong statement from the Pacific as a intercollective, because that would also strengthen our position,” Tuaga said.
According to Tuaga, Tuvalu tried to discuss the issue with Beijing, but got nowhere. Tuvalu has asked Australia, France and the US to search for the dummy warhead in the nearby waters, he said.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a radio interview before the meeting she hoped China took note of the “very clear response” already sent from the Pacific about the test.
“The majority of the Pacific Islands Forum did express concerns over China’s ballistic missile test,” she said.
However China-friendly nations Kiribati, Nauru and Vanuatu are understood to have little interest in formally criticizing one of their major partners.
A watered-down formal response may come from Friday’s meeting in Fiji’s capital Suva, highlighting the need for regional security but without mentioning the test, or China.
The meeting of foreign ministers comes ahead of a full leaders’ meeting in Palau in September.
Palau — an archipelago of hundreds of islands around 800 kilometres west of the Philippines — is among the few nations to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy which Beijing claims as part of its territory.
Diplomats also plan Friday to discuss which key partners should be allowed to attend that meeting.
Last year, the Solomon Islands banned all partner nations from attending the leaders’ meeting in Honiara, in response to China demanding Taiwan be excluded.
Wellington’s top diplomat Peters warned Friday “there’s always a tendency for outsiders to meddle” in the Pacific.
— With files from Bloomberg