Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived in the Cook Islands for the Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting. This year's summit aims to strengthen Pacific unity while addressing climate, geopolitics, and regional threats.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives for the Pacific Island Forum in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, Wednesday, November 8, 2023. NO ARCHIVINGAustralia, with fellow regional heavyweight New Zealand, has put much stock in the Pacific Islands Forum in recent years, part of a renewed diplomatic focus on its home region.
He's joining leaders of a region he has described as family - a sign that leaders are keen to show Pacific splintering is in the past. The Melanesian nations, which have been courted by China and the U.S. for security and economic ties in the strategic South Pacific, will instead send ministers to the 18-member bloc meeting opening in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, on Monday.
Issues like climate change, geopolitical challenges, and nuclear issues are expected to be on the agenda. "People see the most likely conflict in coming years to be over Taiwan and northern Pacific states are literally in the firing line for such a conflict. If China were to take Taiwan, the US military would have to go through the Northern Pacific to get to Taiwan."
"I grew up in the Solomon Islands. So you go to some places, people have already had to relocate. It is a climate crisis but also, you have to look at it, it is a human rights crisis as well."
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