Solomon Islands 'Bloki'r US, China, And Taiwan From The Pacific Region Summit

JAKARTA - Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Jeremia Manele, said 21 donor countries, including the United States and China, would not be invited to high-level political gatherings in the region. The move follows pressure from Beijing to exclude Taiwan.

Reported by Reuters, as China's largest security ally in the Pacific Islands, Solomon Islands will host the country's 18-member block forum annual meeting in September.

Three island nations have diplomatic ties to Taiwan, not China, and they have expressed concern that Taiwanese officials will be blocked from entering the country.

Solomon Islands transferred diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China in 2019, and removed Taiwan from the list of eligible countries for entry permits for concessions in April.

Beijing, which has strengthened its ties in the Pacific, claims Taiwan as its territory.

Manele told Solomon Islands parliament on Wednesday that his cabinet decided not to invite dialogue partners to this year's event, as a review of the relationship between each country and the Pacific has not been completed.

He said he had notified 18 forum leaders of the decision this week.

The World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and civil society groups will attend.

opposition party politician Peter Kenilorea Jr, chairman of parliament's foreign relations committee, said the decision was a "big missed opportunity" for Pacific Island countries to meet with global donors.

"We know this issue is entirely about China and Taiwan," he told parliament.

After forum leaders were notified of the decision, Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine criticized interference in the forum affairs in a speech at Taiwanese ally parliament.

China had "mixed" forum affairs at last year's meeting in Tonga to change the communicative language of the leaders, Heine said. References to Taiwan were removed after Chinese diplomats filed a complaint.

The Pacific archipelago is one of the areas most dependent on assistance in the world, and is at the forefront of sea level rise.

This area has also been the focus of increasingly fierce security competition between the United States and China.

Although US allies Australia and New Zealand are the largest forum members, both Beijing and Washington are not part of the group.

Kenilorea Jr said he was worried that China, which has a strong presence in the Solomon Islands, would continue to hold bilateral meetings with Pacific leaders on the sidelines of the forum.

"This can be considered by some PIF leaders as a betrayal of the group and risk causing greater divisions in the group," he told Reuters.