Disagreement from some China-aligned Pacific Islands countries has prevented regional countries within the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) issuing a joint statement against missile testing in the Pacific.

At their meeting in Suva on Friday, PIF foreign ministers failed to agree on a unified statement against China after it fired a nuclear-capable missile into Pacific waters last month, despite deep concern among most countries about Beijing’s actions.

It is understood there was a majority of countries represented at the meeting who wanted a clear joint regional statement condemning such missile testing in the nuclear-free Pacific.

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However, the Forum’s usual Pacific decision-making by consensus could not be met because Kiribati and Nauru were opposed to a strong statement condemning the testing.

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters told media some Pacific nations were using the consensus system because they were more concerned with external partners’ wishes than those that belong to the Pacific Islands Forum, something he described as an “unusual view”.

“They didn’t actually lay out any reasons, apart from their disagreement, and not wishing for us to make the clear statement such as ‘we are opposed to missiles being fired into the Pacific’.

“That’s what the statement should have said, and we’re still waiting for that to get laid out.”

Some governments have pointed out that China is not the only country testing nuclear-capable missiles in the Pacific. The US regularly conducts tests into the Marshall Islands.

Peters said that testing in the Marshall Islands was done with the country’s consent.

Security agenda
The PIF Foreign Ministers Meeting was held to set the agenda for the annual Leaders’ Meeting in Palau later this month.

A Solomon Islands proposal for a regional security treaty was one of the discussion points, although it’s clear more consultation is required on the matter.

The Solomon Islands’ Foreign Affairs and External Trade Permanent Secretary George Hoa’au told RNZ Pacific that there was already a range of regional security mechanisms in the Forum fale.

“The missing part is to have a common thatched roof over them,” he said.

“The proposal for this single security treaty by Solomons is to provide an umbrella on top of what is already regional MOUs which are non-binding.”