Pacific Islands urge unity in face of China ambition

The Pacific Islands Forum calls itself a family.

Fourteen islands scattered across the vast Pacific Ocean, along with Australia and New Zealand, connected by their natural environment, faith, culture and traditional knowledge.

Nowadays they also share challenges: a very real threat from rising sea levels, more frequent storms and economies crippled by Covid-19.

But the regional bloc’s first face-to-face meeting in almost three years in Fiji’s capital Suva didn’t turn out to be the warm reunion many expected.

A day before the event began, Kiribati – one of the most isolated islands in the world – made a surprise announcement that it wouldn’t attend the summit and quit the bloc altogether.