The president of the Republic of the Marshall Islands Hilda Heine has told The Guardian that Washington’s relations with countries in the region is being ” gradually destroyed by party politics” as Congress delays approval of crucial funding for the Pacific nation.
US lawmakers are yet to pass funding packages agreed in 2023 with the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia.
“Members of the Congress have to understand that the funds that the US has agreed to provide … did not come because of the generosity of the US government and its citizens, but rather because of hard negotiations between the parties,” Heine said.
Last year, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Marshall Islands (RMI) and Palau renewed their funding programme with the US which seeks to provide economic assistance to the nations in lieu of exclusive military access to large and strategic areas of the Pacific.
But, despite bipartisan support for the agreement known as Compacts of Free Association (COFA), funding is yet to be approved by the Congress.
Earlier, the presidents of the three Pacific countries said that they have been repeatedly writing letters to the US warning that the delay had “generated uncertainty among our peoples” and “resulted in undesirable opportunities for economic exploitation by competitive political actors in the Pacific.”
In February, Palau’s president Surangel Whipps was more straightforward in his warning and said that a lot of politicians in his country were looking to accept Chinese help to shift diplomatic recognition of Taiwan to Beijing. In a letter, he wrote that China has already offered to “fill every hotel room” in our tourism based private sector.
Similar letter from Marshall Islands president Hilda Heine also carried similar warnings.
Over the years, China has been trying to increase its influence in the region and Beijing’s clout can be gauged from the fact that a lot of island nations in the area have decided to sever ties with Taiwan in favour of mainland China.
The region is of strategic importance and Beijing has been increasing its military outposts in the region. Recently, China made repeated incursions into the territorial waters around Senkaku Islands, in the East China Sea that is controlled by Tokyo, but claimed by Beijing.
