US climate promises to be insane for Pacific island states – Opinion

The fact that US President Joe Biden is hosting the first-ever US-Pacific Island Countries Summit on Wednesday and Thursday shows that Washington is desperate to strengthen relations with Pacific Island countries after removing them from its list of priorities in the 1990s.

As noted in the White House statement released Sept. 2, the first U.S.-Pacific Island Countries Summit will seek to deepen cooperation between the United States and Pacific Island countries on key issues such as climate change. climate change, pandemic response, global economic recovery, maritime security, environmental protection and building a free and open “Indo-Pacific region”.

This crucial U.S. overture to Pacific island nations suggests that the United States not only recognizes the strategic importance of the region, but also fears that its dominance over the Pacific since the end of World War II will be undermined. by China. growing relationships with Pacific island countries.

Shaken by increasing Chinese investment in Pacific island countries and China’s growing naval power in the Pacific, the United States has accused China of building “military bases” in the Pacific while ignoring the fact that Washington has stepped up military activities around Pacific island countries such as Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau.

However, Pacific island countries seem uninterested in the zero-sum game of US geopolitical rivalry. So far, their response at the summit has been mixed. Although the leaders of the island nations welcomed the summit, as they expect the United States to make concrete commitments to mitigate the threats facing the region and hope that the United States puts their needs first. , but they also fear that Washington will instead force them to choose sides between China and the United States.

For Pacific island nations, the US geopolitical approach to engaging the region is questionable for two specific reasons. First, it is contrary to the value that island nations place on inclusion, and second, and more fundamentally, it is the United States, not the Pacific island nations, that views China’s growing presence in the region as a security threat.

China offers island nations economic options, even new strategic levers. The benign interactions between China and Pacific island countries have their own rationale and logic, that is, promoting the common good.

In 1993, the United States closed its embassy in the Solomon Islands. Almost at the same time, China began to strengthen its engagement with island nations.

In 2013, China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative and since then has worked closely with Pacific island nations. Bilateral trade has increased significantly since 1992 and reached $5.3 billion in 2021, and China’s direct investment in Pacific island countries reached $2.72 billion at the end of 2021.

China has also helped island nations improve connectivity, reduce poverty, protect public health and protect the environment. And in addition to deepening economic and development cooperation, China has taken the climate concerns of island nations very seriously and realizes that they are the most vulnerable to climate change-induced sea level rise and to other natural disasters.

On the other hand, the United States’ commitment to climate change has fluctuated in recent years, leaving the world, including Pacific island nations, frustrated.

While in 2017 former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the historic Paris Agreement which was accepted by almost all countries, dealing a blow to the global response to climate change, four years later Later, incumbent President Biden, on his first day in office in January 2021, signed the instrument to bring the United States back into the Paris climate accord.

This back-and-forth policy has caused the international community to question the United States’ commitment to the global fight against climate change. So, to regain its climate leadership, the United States must not only set an ambitious climate change mitigation goal, but also take consistent and concrete action to overcome the climate crisis.

According to a July 14 Pew survey, Americans are divided over the direction Biden’s climate change policy will take, raising doubts about whether the United States will provide Pacific island nations with the money, d other resources and expertise, as promised in the Paris agreement, to fight climate change. This is particularly important, as island nations have long complained of having difficulty obtaining owed funds from the United States.

The midterm elections in November are another factor that makes running for the U.S. climate leadership suspect. If the Democrats lose their congressional majority in the midterm elections or fail to win the 2024 presidential election, Washington’s climate commitment could change again.

After a four-year absence from the global climate community, the US-Pacific island nations summit offers Washington a good opportunity to catch up on recent developments. And it can do this by fulfilling its responsibilities, including genuinely helping Pacific island countries fight climate change, not by trying to assume global climate leadership.

The author is an associate professor at the National Institute of International Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

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