US House Republicans add Pacific nations deals to bill ‘countering Communist China’
- A federal budget impasse has hindered funding for the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau as Beijing deepens ties in the strategically vital region
- Inclusion of Pacific nations deals in China bill is ‘encouraging sign’ that more lawmakers realise need for urgent passage, expert says
A congressional budget impasse has hindered funding for the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau, but that could change if the draft bill by the Republican study committee, a group of more than 150 conservative lawmakers, were to pass.
First signed in the 1980s with the three island nations, the Cofa agreements provide Washington exclusive military access to strategic swathes of the western Pacific in exchange for economic help.
This particular bill “may or may not succeed in its current form, but just being included increases the visibility of the compacts and the chances that the compacts will be passed sooner rather than later”, she added.
Last week, 28 Republican and 20 Democratic lawmakers wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson urging him to include the Cofa pacts in the next available legislative cycle.
“They are watching to see if we will follow through on our commitments,” the letter stated, alluding to Beijing.
“Should we fail”, it added, China would “further exploit that vacuum with further intervention and disruption rather than open and lawful competition”.
The developments follow stern warnings to Washington delivered by regional leaders anxious about what a lack of funding could mean.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary.
Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
The issue was also raised during an annual meeting last week between US Pacific island governors and the US deputy secretary of state, Kurt Campbell.
Republican congressman Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, who chairs the study committee, has described the legislation as the “the strongest legislation against the CCP ever introduced to Congress and for good reason”.