Updated ,first published
Koror City, Palau: Pacific leaders were preparing to call for at least a day’s notice of future ballistic weapons tests in a rebuke of China’s recent surprise firing of a long-range missile as they concluded a key regional gathering in Palau.
The tiny island nation of Nauru was expected to be the only holdout as 17 of the 18 Pacific Island Forum members united to demand more transparency after being taken aback by Beijing’s test-firing an intercontinental long-range ballistic missile across the region in July.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and this year’s PIF chair earlier rejected any equivalence between American and Chinese missile testing, as Albanese declared China had shown “no respect” to the Pacific nations by firing a nuclear-capable weapon in their direction with minimal notice.
Sources familiar with the draft leaders’ communiqué, scheduled to be released on Thursday evening, said the leaders were expected to register their concern about the recent test, noting the missile had flown over several member nations and without adequate notice.
Insisting they want the Pacific to be an “ocean of peace”, they were also expected to call for all states undertaking such tests to provide at least 24 hours’ notice in accordance with international protocols.
China gave select countries only around two hours’ notice of its most recent test, the first time it had test-fired a ballistic missile from a nuclear-powered submarine into international waters. Some Pacific countries were not notified at all.
In a win for Albanese and Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr, the draft statement being readied for release on Thursday afternoon went further than that issued by Pacific foreign ministers in August, which called only for “transparency and reassurance” on missile testing in the region.
But it was not as severe as an earlier draft statement that called out China by name and said the Pacific “will not be defined by the strategic interests of others”.
Nauru was expected to register its opposition to this section of the communiqué in a footnote, reflecting its deepening ties with Beijing.
Nauru and Kiribati had both earlier been singled out as blocking a powerful joint condemnation of China’s missile test.
As he prepared to host Pacific leaders at his family home for a private retreat, Whipps Jr said he believed it was “important that we have a unified position” about China’s missile testing.
Echoing his remarks in a recent interview with this masthead, Whipps said: “A unified Pacific voice is critical in getting Beijing to respect sovereignty, to respect transparency, and to be a responsible partner. I think that’s the message that we should send to Beijing.”
The fact that the US regularly test-fires its own missiles into the region, mostly from California towards a testing range in the Marshall Islands, had hampered efforts to convince leaders to agree to a powerful joint statement.
Kiribati’s President Taneti Maamau told his nation’s parliament in August that while he was “not happy” with China over its test, he could not turn a blind eye to missile testing by the US and other countries.
Albanese told reporters on Thursday that “the situations are very different”, arguing: “The US gives proper notice, has an agreement with the Marshall Islands. What we saw with the Chinese test was a firing of a missile with very little notice.”
He also noted China had fired its missile from a nuclear-powered submarine towards Nauru and Tuvalu “with no respect for those nations, and that is why it brought such a strong response from the Pacific, including from Australia”.
Standing in front of a solar power plant co-funded by Australia, Whipps backed Albanese, saying: “The United States has an agreement with the Marshall Islands. They notify and they say it’s going there. What about the rest of us in the Pacific? Don’t we deserve the same? As I have said, there’s a there’s a lot of space between Japan and Guam. Why don’t you send it there?”
Whipps has strongly defended Taiwan’s right to participate in the Pacific Islands Forum as a development partner despite strong protestations from China.
The early days of the summit were overshadowed by a warning from China’s Pacific envoy that there would be “consequences” for Taiwan’s strong representation at this year’s event.
Whipps said maintaining the longstanding principle that both China and Taiwan can attend the forum as partners was “keeping the Pacific together because we respect each other’s sovereignty, we respect each other’s partnerships and we should maintain that because we are one family”.
Palau, a former US territory, is one of the few nations left in the world that continues to formally recognise Taiwan rather than Beijing.
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Matthew Knott is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X, Facebook or email.
