The Government has announced $10 million for a seed bank in Fiji - the first funding from its $1.3 billion climate fund set up in October.
The United States has launched a major push into the Pacific, announcing two new embassies, and will address the Pacific Islands Forum tomorrow in what a political expert says is "unprecedented access" for a non-member.
The Pacific Islands Forum leaders' meetings get under way this week amid rising geopolitical tensions with China and the United States vying for influence in the region.
Vice-President Kamala Harris will speak to Pacific leaders tomorrow virtually at the invitation of forum chair and Fiji Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, in what experts call a major win for the US in its strategy and a hit to China, which is understood to have been denied similar access.
Harris will announce an increase to funding for the region, tripling fishing-related assistance to nearly $1 billion over the next decade, and new embassies in Tonga and Kiribati, which just left the forum, sparking concerns its close relations with China could be at play.
PM Jacinda Ardern with staff at Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) in Suva. Photo / Michael Neilson
Harris' virtual address comes despite the forum deciding to exclude observer countries this year, including the United States and China, which typically send representatives to attend side-meetings and a post-leaders' meeting dialogue.
China's bid to meet Pacific leaders virtually on Thursday, the same day as the leaders' retreat, was reportedly turned down.
Harris said her address would "underscore the commitment of the United States to the Pacific Islands region and discuss opportunities to deepen US engagement in the region".
The US would increase funding to support the South Pacific Tuna Treaty, which grants US boats access to tuna stocks. Further US concessions are expected to be announced during the meeting.
Its new initiatives also include returning peace corps to the region, appointing a US envoy to the forum and establishing a United States Agency for International Development (USAid) Regional Mission for the Pacific in Suva.
The US provides close to NZ$600m aid annually to the Pacific.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Harris' address was within the context of fisheries and she did not see the move as anything different from interest in the past.
PM Jacinda Ardern with staff at Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) in Suva, to which the Government has donated $10m as part of climate-change finance. Photo / Michael Neilson
Ardern said while US and China had been in the Pacific for some time, interest had waxed and waned.
She said China had increased its attention lately, and when that moved to security elements "that concerns us".
"We have an example of a development partner who's been around the Pacific for decades, but is certainly increasing their activity, and changing the way in which they engage."
She said, on the other hand, the US interest had waned in recent years, and was only now gearing up again.
Ardern said it was important to make sure coercion was not at play in the superpowers' relationships with the region, and moves towards militarisation should be resisted.
Dr Anna Powles, a Massey University expert in Pacific security, said it was clearly timed by the US to send a signal to China, which would not have a presence at the leaders' meetings.
US President Joe Biden addressed the forum virtually last year, but Powles said it was unprecedented for a non-forum member to be given time and access through a virtual meeting during leaders' week.
"This is very much about the US seeking to position itself as the partner of choice in the Pacific."
Powles said while some US-aligned members would likely be supportive, the move could upset others as it would take away focus from the forum's unity efforts.
"One thing partners need to learn is the difference between presence and getting in the way."
Biden's address last year, for example, failed to make any mention of regional divisions.
"It is questionable the timing given the forum needs to concentrate on regional issues and solidarity," Powles said.
"But it is also about the US signalling to China even though both US and China are dialogue partners the US has managed to secure an audience."
Meanwhile, Ardern is set to meet her Solomon Islands counterpart tomorrow for the first time since the island nation signed its controversial security deal with China.
Before her meeting with PM Manasseh Sogavare, Ardern said she was keen to talk about its agreement with China.
That agreement, signed in April, had sparked widespread concerns of increasing militarisation in the Pacific, which Sogavare vehemently denied.
The agreement was followed by a regional tour by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi to drum up support from 10 Pacific nations for a broader security and trade agreement.
That was ultimately turned down by Pacific countries, with the caveat that it, and wider concerns, would be discussed at the Pacific Islands Forum, as per the Biketawa Declaration.
Meanwhile, the United States has also entered the fray, conducting its own tour and seeking closer security ties with New Zealand and allies including the establishment of the Partners in the Blue Pacific.
PM Jacinda Ardern making the first announcement from the Government's $1.3 billion climate finance fund, with at least half going to Pacific projects. Photo / Michael Neilson
Ardern said she had voiced concerns over the phone with Sogavare "and now's the chance to do it face to face. That won't come as a surprise.
"No one is questioning the individual sovereignty [for a country] to form its own relationships," but added when that relationship affected the security of the wider region, it should be discussed.
"We have been present there to help support his family to help support the security needs of the region. And if there have been deficiencies in that, then I'd like to hear what they were."
She was hoping the forum could, within the Biketawa and Boe declarations, seek further clarity about how these issues should be handled in future.
She will also meet Fiji PM Frank Bainimarama and would catch up on the forum, climate change and the regions.
Ardern's discussions tomorrow are also expected to focus on unity within the forum, in light of Kiribati's departure, and taking action on climate change.
Ardern yesterday announced the first project in the Government's $1.3 billion climate finance package, to support a seed bank in Fiji to protect at-risk plants.
With Albanese pledging much stronger action on climate change than his predecessor Scott Morrison, his arrival today is expected to lead to much discussion on the topic from Pacific leaders.
Ardern said she would "welcome healthy competition" from the transtasman partner on climate change.
