President Joe Biden made the announcement ahead of a summit with all 18 Pacific Island leaders this week in Washington. They are located in the South Pacific Ocean.
deer recognize the freedom of Cook Islands and Niue two small countries in the Pacific, declared on Monday the president Joe Biden, thus confirming the previous announcement of the North American authorities. Analysts speculate that the move could provoke China’s anger.
Biden made the announcement ahead of a summit with 18 Pacific Island leaders this week in Washington, as part of a US strategy to counter China’s growing economic and military power in an important region that the US government has long considered. time.
In a statement, Biden said the United States has a long history of cooperation with the Cook Islands, dating back to World War II, when the US military built airstrips on one of the chain’s atolls.
“Today’s announcement will allow us to expand the reach of this long-standing partnership as we seek to address the challenges that matter most to the lives of our people,” he stated.
According to the White House, the summit will focus on priorities such as climate change, economic growth, sustainable development, public health and the fight against illegal fishing.
Pacific Island leaders criticized rich countries for not doing enough to combat the climate crisis, despite being responsible for the largest emissions, and called for more financial resources to be allocated to solve climate change.
At last year’s summit, the administration pledged to increase $810 million in new aid to Pacific Island countries over the next decade, including $130 million in efforts to combat the effects of climate change.
The forum includes Australia, Cook Islands, Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. .
Independence of New Zealand
The two Cook Islands like Niue, known as the Polynesian Rock, is located in the South Pacific Ocean and has a democratic-parliamentary system of government in free association with New Zealand. They are not members of the United Nations, although they are members of some of its specialized agencies, such as UNESCO.
Like other countries in the South Pacific, the economies of the Cook Islands and Niue suffer from isolation, lack of natural resources and poor infrastructure, not to mention the weather events that often wreak havoc in the region.
The economies are largely dependent on foreign aid from New Zealand. Government expenditure has always exceeded revenue, and the deficit is made up by Wellington grants which are used to pay the salaries of public employees.
The governments of the Cook Islands and Niue seek to promote tourism, offer tax facilities, and encourage the development of fishing and mining. The results, however, are regular: the inhabitants, mostly of Polynesian origin, continue to have problems living with weak local production, so they are forced to migrate.
However, in recent years, the Cook Islands have become increasingly independent when it comes to managing Foreign Affairs.
Geographically, these islands have strategic importance because of their location on the main trade routes of the Pacific and because they are in the area of influence of the Aukus tripartite pact (an acronym in English for Australia, United Kingdom and the United States. ), was created in September 2021 and has already resulted in a project to provide Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines.
