Agencies
Papua New Guinea and its foreign minister Justin Tkatchenko do not immediately jump out of foreign policy line-up of concerns in New Delhi or in Washington. But in course of his ten-day visit to the US, India’s external affairs minister S.Jaishankar met Tkatchenko in the US capital on Wednesday to discuss “our ongoing cooperation with the Pacific Islands” and “next steps for taking it forward in the coming days.” The meeting took place on the sidelines of the first-ever US-Pacific Island Country Summit hosted by the Biden administration in what is seen as a belated recognition that China has stolen a march in strengthening ties in the region. While no US President has ever visited a Pacific island nation, China’s President Xi Jinping visited Fiji in 2014 and Papua New Guinea in 2018. China’s foreign minister Wang Yi has also visited several island nations in a region that has become a hotbed of US-China rivalry.
India, which has long-standing relations, including ethnic ties, with some Pacific countries, notably Fiji -- Prime. Minister visited Fiji in November 2014 -- is now coordinating with US in energising ties with a clutch of nations that have long been seen as minor players in foreign relations. “India meets with a Pacific Island nation. This is how great powers think and act: globally,” noted Derek Grossman, a national security analyst at the Rand Corporation.
