by Reuters: The United States will sign new strategic agreements with the Pacific island states of Palau and Micronesia as early as next week and expects to do the same with the Marshall Islands in the coming weeks, the US presidential envoy negotiating the deals said. Said.
The Palau agreement will be formally signed in Papua New Guinea on Monday in the presence of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr., while the Micronesia agreement will be signed in Micronesia on Tuesday, Joseph Yoon told Reuters.
Yoon signed the agreements during a visit to Micronesia and Palau last week as part of US efforts to drum up support among Pacific island states to counter competition from China. As expected, he was unable to reach an agreement with the Marshall Islands.
“We have made progress in our three-day visit to the Marshall Islands and we expect to sign an agreement with the Marshall Islands in the coming weeks,” he said.
Washington first entered into what is known as the Compact of Free Association (COFA) agreement with the three island states in the 1980s, under which it retains responsibility for their defense and in return receives exclusive access to vast strategic areas of the Pacific. While providing financial assistance. ,
Renovating them has become a key part of US efforts to push back against China’s bid to expand its influence in the Pacific. Chinese diplomats are visiting the region and Chinese construction and mining companies have expanded their businesses to several Pacific island countries.
US President Joe Biden was due to attend the signing ceremony in Port Moresby but canceled a brief stop there on Tuesday because of the US debt-ceiling crisis.
Blinken will replace him and sign bilateral defense and maritime security agreements with PNG and meet leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum. Biden’s national security adviser said Wednesday that the president will arrange another summit of Pacific island leaders this year after the disappointment caused by their cancellation.
Yun said Micronesia preferred to formalize its agreement on its home territory. Earlier he had said that both Palau and Micronesia would sign their COFAs in PNG.
Marshall Islands’ COFA is due to expire this year. Yoon gave no reason for the hold-up in renewing it, but parliamentary elections are expected in November.
Yoon called the deals “strategically important”.
“We’ve got two out of three,” he said. “The compacts are very important to the United States. It defines the relationship between us and the northern half of the Pacific.”
Yoon said last month the “topline” agreement would provide about $6.5 billion over 20 years to the three COFA states.
Last year, more than 100 arms-control, environmental and other activist groups urged the Biden administration to formally apologize to the Marshall Islands and provide appropriate compensation for the effects of the massive US nuclear test.
Marshall Islanders are still plagued by the health and environmental effects of the 67 US atomic bomb tests from 1946 to 1958, which included “Castle Bravo” at Bikini Atoll in 1954 – the largest US bombing ever.