A group of Pacific Island leaders has raised the alarm over the failure to renew key agreements with the United States amid growing Chinese influence in the Pacific.
In an urgent plea to leaders of the U.S. Senate, the presidents of three Pacific island countries, known for their skepticism towards China, have voiced their deep concerns about the future of the Compacts of Free Association (COFA) with the United States.
The renewal of key components of the Compacts has been agreed by both sides but is yet to be approved by Congress, raising concerns about Beijing making inroads into the Pacific Island region. The agreements have been caught up in broader inter-party disputes in Congress over funding.
"We ... cannot overstate the importance to all of our nations of final approval by the U.S. Congress," the leaders of the Freely Associated States (FAS)—Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Marshall Islands—wrote in their letter to Senate leaders, which was posted to X, formerly Twitter, by Derek Grossman, senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation.
The leaders argued in the letter that this delay has not only generated uncertainty among their people, who have long-standing ties with the United States, but has also opened doors for "economic exploitation by competitive political actors," a veiled reference to China's growing influence in the region.
The COFAs established economic and defense ties between the United States and the FAS, granting the U.S. extensive defense and security access across a strategic corridor in the Pacific.
"Our free associations effectively expand the United States for defense purposes to cover an expanse of the Pacific larger than the 48 contiguous United States, stretching from west of Hawaii to the Philippines and Indonesia. Our partnerships also enable the U.S. to base missiles and its earliest warning radars trained on Asia in Palau and a facility that the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff say is the world's premier range for ICBM testing and military space operations in the Marshall Islands," the leaders wrote.
Cleo Paskal, non-resident senior fellow at Washington think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, writing for The Diplomat on Thursday, said these agreements cover vital areas such as education programs, support for U.S. military veterans returning to the FAS, and postal services for the next 20 years.
Moreover, the U.S. is obligated to protect the FAS from any external threats, underscoring the significance of these pacts in U.S. strategic planning in the region.
The FAS leaders have raised alarms over the delay in the renewal of these compacts, particularly the financial and service components, which are up for periodic review.
The FAS are strategically important to the United States. As Paskal notes, the "Corridor of Freedom" facilitated by these compacts is central to U.S. defense strategy in the Pacific, linking Hawaii to Guam and extending to Taiwan and U.S. treaty allies like the Philippines and Japan.
Palau and the Marshall Islands recognize Taiwan, placing them directly in the geopolitical tug-of-war between the United States and China.
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About the writer
Aadil Brar is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers international security, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian ... Read more
