New Zealand official says Western neglect of Pacific Islands let other nations boost their influence

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Western nations, including the United States and New Zealand, failed to understand swiftly enough the geopolitical importance of island nations in the South Pacific, leaving a power vacuum that allowed other countries to increase their diplomatic influence, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said.

Peters made the remark in an interview with The Associated Press in his parliamentary office in the capital, Wellington, on Thursday, ahead of an annual summit in Tonga next week of leaders of Pacific nations, including Australia and New Zealand. Crises of sovereignty, climate change and foreign influence in some of the world’s smallest and most remote nations are expected to take center stage.

The region of tropical islands and atoll nations, once overlooked by many Western governments, has become a focus of competition in recent years among the world’s largest governments for influence, resources and power. The Pacific Islands Forum has exploded in importance as a result, drawing diplomatic and civil society observers from across the globe.

Leaders of tiny Pacific nations are being courted by China with bilateral sweeteners such as infrastructure funding, export markets and security help, leading Australia and New Zealand in recent months to push for the Pacific-style consensus diplomacy of the forum. But they are facing a different landscape than before -– in part, Peters said, because of the failures of previous governments of which he was not a part.

“If you are not there as an influence, then other influences that don’t share your values might seriously fill the vacuum, and that has happened,” said Peters, 79, who is also deputy prime minister, a former foreign minister and the