On Tuesday, the president of the United States and the prime minister of New Zealand expressed their shared concern about China’s bid to expand its influence in the Pacific, according to a senior US official. They also discussed the need for in-person engagement with Pacific island leaders, according to the official.
Joe Biden and Jacinda Ardern met at the White House amid China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s tour of the Pacific island region, which has alarmed New Zealand, the US, and US friends and partners in the Indo-Pacific.
Biden told Ardern in the Oval Office that Washington did not want to impose its will on the region, but rather wanted to work with it. “There’s still a lot of work to be done in those Pacific islands,” he remarked.
Following the meeting, a joint statement highlighted worry over a recent security pact signed between China and the Solomon Islands. find out more
“A sustained military presence in the Pacific by a state that does not share our principles or security objectives would fundamentally alter the strategic balance of the region and raise national-security problems to both of our countries,” it stated.
Both countries are closely aligned, Ardern told reporters, “in strengthening Pacific ideals and the focus that Pacific island leaders have selected for themselves.”
The two sides discussed shared concerns about the challenges faced by Pacific island nations, as well as the need to assist them in dealing with issues such as the COVID-19 epidemic and climate change, according to the senior US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“They also had a pretty in-depth discussion about the necessity of in-person engagement with Pacific island leaders, as well as the importance of the US working closely with New Zealand and other allies as we continue to ratchet up our efforts to engage more effectively in the Pacific,” he added.
Since Sir John Key met President Barack Obama in 2014, Ardern was the first New Zealand leader to visit the White House.
The discussion on Tuesday took on further significance because New Zealand has expressed concerns about China in recent weeks, following news that Beijing had struck a security arrangement with the Solomon Islands.
On Tuesday, China’s foreign minister visited Tonga as part of a tour to the Pacific islands.
In Tonga, he inked agreements for police equipment and fisheries cooperation, but Pacific island states couldn’t agree on a sweeping regional trade and security pact suggested by China in a meeting with Wang the day before.
During Biden’s first trip to Asia as president last week, New Zealand joined Biden’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, an economic bloc that excludes China and was created to counter that country.
However, New Zealand and several other nations in the area believe it falls short, and Ardern has stated that New Zealand would prefer to see the US rejoin a regional trade treaty that Biden’s predecessor, then-President Donald Trump, left in 2017. Biden has been hesitant to do so due to domestic concerns that such accords would result in job losses.
Biden and Ardern also discussed their reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as gun restrictions in the wake of many mass shootings in the United States, including one last week at a Texas elementary school that murdered 21 children and teachers.
Ardern issued a ban on semiautomatic rifles and other gun restrictions following the Christchurch massacre in 2019, in which a shooter killed 51 Muslims.
