Beijing Interferes with Pacific Islands Forum

MEDIA RELEASE | 31 August 2026 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Growing fractures surrounding this year’s Pacific Islands Forum are another warning that foreign interference is alive and well in the Pacific, says PILLAR NZ spokesperson Arian Tashakkori.

“China has spent years building economic, political, and strategic relationships in our backyard. Increasingly, we are seeing the strings attached to those relationships tighten where Beijing wants Pacific governments to fall into line with its strategic interests,” Tashakkori says.

“Just this month, Pacific nations failed to reach consensus on how to respond to China’s missile test in the Pacific. Now, as leaders gather in Palau, Beijing is publicly pressuring the Pacific Islands Forum over Taiwan’s participation.

“Not every disagreement or absence at the Forum can or should be attributed to the CCP but the wider pattern demands our attention.

“Beijing’s increasingly coercive and transactional diplomacy risks undermining the Pacific’s ability to speak with an independent and unified voice. When economic or political dependencies are used to raise the cost of disagreeing with a foreign power, national sovereignty is put under pressure.”

Tashakkori says the issue is not about expecting Pacific countries to blindly align themselves with New Zealand, Australia, or the United States.

“It’s about something more fundamental: whether sovereign Pacific nations are making decisions freely or under growing pressure from Beijing.

“Sovereignty is not just about control over a territory, it means a people retaining the freedom to determine their own political future without coercion or manipulation by foreign powers.”

Tashakkori says New Zealand should pay close attention to developments in the Pacific because they are indicative of China’s increasingly coercive strategies.

“We will not preserve our sovereignty through timidity, complacency, or a fear of offending Beijing.

“PILLAR is focused on preserving a free and sovereign New Zealand and will continue calling for policies that strengthen our resilience against foreign interference and protect New Zealanders’ ability to determine our own future.

“That includes our advocacy for a Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme to be adopted so New Zealanders can see when foreign principals, or those acting on their behalf, seek to influence our political and public institutions.

“New Zealand must also continue to stand alongside Pacific democracies facing coercion and accept that maintaining genuine independence sometimes carries a cost.

“Freedom has a cost but dependence on the CCP has a far greater one.”

ENDS

Media contact: arian@nzpillar.com