The US has stepped up its game in the Pacific after Kiribati opted out of the Pacific Island Forum meeting in Suva, Fiji, and withdrew the country from the 18-member group. On Tuesday, Kiribati islanders celebrated their Independence Day, however, President Taneti Maamau skipped the region’s first face-to-face meeting in three years as a matter of principle over a dispute involving its leadership, reported CNN. Some saw Beijing’s hand in Maamau’s decision to leave the alliance, a claim China’s Foreign Ministry rejected as “completely groundless” during a regular news briefing Monday.
Reacting to the incident, the US stepped forward with incentives for Pacific Island leaders to counter Beijing’s efforts to dominate an increasingly competitive geopolitical tussle in a region of great strategic importance.
A senior administration official told reporters in a call the US was “significantly stepping up (its) game in the Pacific Islands.”