China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi continues on his tour of eight Pacific Island Nations, yesterday joining with Fijian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama to chair the Second China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Fiji. Wang read a message from President Xi Jinping who emphasized that China will always cooperate with the island nations, regardless of their size or what happens on the international landscape. China, he said, will always be a good partner.
At the meeting, which Wang described as very successful, he announced that China intends to continue to jointly build six new cooperation platforms with regional countries in such sectors as poverty alleviation, disaster prevention, climate change, agriculture and security and law enforcement. Although the ten participating nations did not produce a final document, attendees reached a five-point consensus, focusing on deepening their comprehensive strategic partnership, upholding true multilateralism and “pursuing common development and prosperity.” Wang also emphasized that China would continue to cooperate with the region, carry out three and four-party cooperation and promote regional development.
Ignoring these positive developments, Western media jackals chose to focus on the fact that a final document was not signed, describing this as a setback and an “embarrassment” for China. Today, Reuters headlined its coverage “China [and] Pacific islands unable to reach consensus on regional pact.” Bloomberg trumpeted “China falls short on big Pacific deal.” As Wang Yi and others pointed out, there is nothing unusual about the meeting not producing a final document. Negotiations that must be carried out in a respectful and professional manner, take time, effort and patience from all parties. There are “no strings attached” to China’s negotiating process, he said.
Following the meeting, China’s ambassador to Fiji, Qian Bo, told reporters there had been some “concerns on specific issues” from some of the participating nations about the proposed agreement. Among them was David Panuelo, president of the Federated States of Micronesia, who, judging from a letter he wrote to 18 Pacific leaders, including Australia and New Zealand, has adopted the line that China represents a regional security threat to the sovereignty of the Pacific island nations. He said that signing any agreement with China would needlessly heighten geopolitical tensions and threaten regional stability, adding that “it threatens to bring a new Cold War era at best, and a World War at worst.”
Wang told media that China would produce a position paper “on our own positions, propositions and cooperation proposals with Pacific Island countries, and going forward, we will continue to have ongoing and in-depth discussions and consultations to shape more consensus.” Global Times reported that the foreign ministers expressed support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the One China policy and look forward to continued cooperation. China also released a 15-point position paper emphasizing mutual respect and common development with the PIC nations, with special emphasis on jointly promoting regional peace and security, cracking down on transnational crime, combating COVID and strengthening people-to-people exchange.
