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The Diplomat (6 November 2023)

Henryk Szadziewski

Pacific Islands Forum members face challenging conversations about the prickly China-U.S. relationship and its effect on the region.

On October 18, 2023, two statements were made at the United Nations — one condemning China’s human rights record in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, and the other backing China’s position in these regions.

The first statement, led by the U.K., was endorsed by 51 countries, with seven Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) members among them: Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Nauru, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Fiji, although Suva later backpedaled and withdrew that support.

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