Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Feleti Teo has warned his country may pull out of next month’s Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Solomon Islands, after the hosts moved to block all external partners – including Taiwan, the US and China – from attending.
Teo told The Guardian that he had written to Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele to express “difficulties supporting the justification” for the decision, describing the timing as “inconvenient” and a distraction from urgent regional priorities.
“The region does not need these kinds of distractions. We have far more important issues to focus on, rather than letting ourselves be pressured from outside.”
Only the forum’s 18 members, including Australia and New Zealand, are set to attend the Honiara meeting on 25 September. Taiwan, which has participated as a development partner since 1993, will be excluded alongside more than 20 donor nations.
The move has fuelled speculation over Beijing’s growing influence in the Pacific. The Solomon Islands switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019 and later signed a controversial security pact with Beijing.
Tuvalu, Palau and the Marshall Islands remain the only Pacific nations that maintain formal ties with Taiwan. Teo said he would wait to see how other Pacific leaders respond before deciding whether to attend, but did not rule out a boycott.
The US has also expressed “disappointment” at the decision, while Taiwan’s foreign ministry called the exclusion “understandable yet regrettable,” urging the PIF to uphold its 1992 agreement allowing partner participation.
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