Pacific Islands Forum secretary-general Henry Puna, left, and China's Special Envoy for Pacific Island Countries Affairs Qian Bo. Photo: Supplied
The secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum is continuing to work on getting China onboard with the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, which recognises the Pacific as a collective.
"They're my good friends. I will continue advocating that true leadership to me means dealing with everybody and accepting everybody, regardless of their status," Henry Puna said.
"I hope to see some real progress on that issue."
The strategy was endorsed by regional heads of governments on July 14, 2022 at the 51st Forum Leaders' Meeting in Suva.
Hailed as the blueprint to address present and future challenges faced by Pacific people, the forum now wants the world to get on board.
A key line in the strategy document says: "As Pacific Leaders, our vision is for a resilient Pacific Region of peace, harmony, security, social inclusion and prosperity, that ensures all Pacific peoples can lead free, healthy and productive lives."
As the former forum chair, Frank Bainimarama, said when he was in the role, successful implementation would require, "dialogue and development partners, regional agencies, and international agencies [to] understand and align their development plans to the strategy and engage with us on this basis".
With Kiribati back in the Forum fold, they now want partners of the Pacific to align with the 2050 Strategy.
"The rest of the world is coming to accept that the 2050 is a must, if they want to engage with the Pacific," Puna said.
Regionalism drum bangs in China's ears
Henry Puna has taken steps to engage with China.
In Suva last year he spoke with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
"I impressed on him the need for them to reach out to all of our members, despite the fact that not all of our members recognise the People's Republic of China, as a diplomatic partner, he expressed some reservations and some difficulties with that, but I urged him, 'look, if you want to be a leader in the world, you've got to overcome those reservations'."
Former Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi, left, with Pacific Islands Forum secretary-general Henry Puna. Photo: Supplied / Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China
"And you got to, that's the only way you could show true leadership by reaching out to everybody. That got him thinking," Puna said.
He said engaging with the Pacific as a whole is something he will continue to push when meeting with the Chinese leadership.
"And hopefully, in the not too distant future, they will come to accept and respect that," he said.
China 'salami slices' Pacific
The Pacific Islands Forum faces a challenging few years ahead as the deal to keep the Micronesian members in the Forum is worked through, Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at Massey University, New Zealand, Anna Powles said.
"Puna, as the outgoing Secretary-General, will be wanting to hand over a robust Forum to his successor," Dr Powles said.
Under Puna's watch China sought to sign ten Pacific Islands Forum members up to a region-wide security and trade deal.
While Dr Powles said it was rebuffed, she believes it is likely China will seek to pursue a version of the arrangement again.
"Puna's challenge to China to engage with all members of the Forum, those that recognise China and those that don't, reflects his desire to safeguard the region by calling for China to not seek to salami slice the region again."
Regionalism matters
There are currently 21 Forum dialogue partners including America and China.
America has acknowledged the Strategy.
"In fact, [it] has respected it, as witnessed at the summit with President Biden last September, where all the members, regardless of their political economic status, were invited to the table in Washington," said Puna.
"It's good to see that now snowballing, because (South) Korea has invited all our leaders to the first-ever summit with their president and government at the end of this month.
"It's good to see that because of our commitment to remain as one solid family; the world is now starting to respect that."
He believes regionalism is the key to success, and the firm foundation needed for the Pacific to have any influence on the global stage.
"And our 2050 strategy is based on that premise, that if we are to have any influence, not just on the global stage, but also with managing our resources, now and into the future, and managing the geopolitical interests, that is now very much focused on the Pacific region, we need regionalism to be very strong.
"And it's the only way that we can move forward," he said.
The 2023 Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting is to be held on November 6 in the Cook Islands.