The deal is likely to be a blow to China, which has made a concerted effort to increase its influence in Micronesia.
The United States has struck a deal with Micronesia to expand decades-old political and security ties as China seeks to build influence in the region.
State Department officials said Wednesday that three documents related to Micronesia’s Free Association Agreements (COFA) with the United States had been signed in Pohnpei, marking the extension of a 20-year-old agreement that offers the island nation guarantees of defense and security. and Washington the right to locate military installations in a strip of the central Pacific.
The signing marked “the successful conclusion of negotiations with WSF on the extension of economic assistance related to the pacts” and was “an important milestone” in relations, the State Department said in a statement.
The signing of the accords will be a blow to China, which has made a concerted effort to increase its influence in Micronesia, causing unease among some local politicians.
Then-President David Panuelo in March accused China of engaging in bribery, harassment and espionage as it sought to increase its influence.
Beijing, he told parliament, had “demonstrated a great capacity to undermine our sovereignty, reject our values and use our senior and elected officials for their own purposes”.
Among the dramatic accusations, Panuelo claimed that his cabinet colleagues transmitted recordings of bilateral meetings directly to China and officials were bribed.
“We are bribed to be accomplices and bribed to keep quiet. It’s a heavy word, but it’s an accurate description anyway,” he said.
US talks on the pacts have been going on for years, along with similar deals with neighboring Palau and the Marshall Islands.
A renewal agreement with Palau was announced on Monday, but talks with the Marshall Islands have been more difficult because of the legacy of nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific archipelago more than 70 years ago.
The United States detonated 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958, and the health and environmental effects are still felt today.
Marshall Islands negotiators first want the United States to pay more than the compensation awarded by the International Nuclear Claims Tribunal, totaling just over $3 billion, of which about $270 million has been paid so far .
Taylor Ruggles, director of Pacific Island Affairs at the US State Department, said on Wednesday that talks with the Marshall Islands were “moving forward”.
“Clearly, renewing the pacts is important to the administration,” Ruggles said, adding that the deals still need to be “funded and approved” by the US Congress.
He described Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands as “some of our closest partners in the Pacific.” The Marshall Islands agreement expires at the end of 2023.
