Overview:
Pacific leaders want partnerships that deliver more than diplomatic support. As the Pacific Islands Forum reshapes its partnership architecture, Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. says dialogue and development partners should use the Forum to show how they will support Pacific priorities — including renewable energy, climate resilience, ocean health and sustainable development.
By: L.N. Reklai
KOROR, Palau (August 30, 2026)— As Pacific leaders confront climate change, rising energy costs and a changing regional partnership landscape, Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. is urging countries seeking closer ties with the Pacific to demonstrate how they will help meet the region’s priorities rather than use the Pacific Islands Forum as a stage for geopolitical competition.
Speaking ahead of the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Palau, Whipps said the Forum’s growing group of dialogue, development and other partners should use the new regional architecture to explain what they can deliver for Pacific countries.
“The Pacific is our home, not a theater for geopolitical competition,” Whipps said. “We welcome partnerships that respect our sovereignty, protect our ocean and natural resources, and deliver real benefits for a peaceful, prosperous and resilient Pacific.”
The question of what partners must contribute is particularly significant as Pacific leaders seek stronger action on climate change and have called for a transition toward a 100% renewable-energy Pacific.
Asked by the Island Times whether PIF leaders would require partner nations to commit to the 2050 Strategy, including fossil-fuel reduction targets, as a condition for closer cooperation, Whipps said the Forum would first give partners an opportunity to explain their plans.
“This is the opportunity for those partners to come and share what their plans are and how they are meeting the challenges and the needs of the Pacific,” Whipps said. “So fossil fuels is on the table, and that’s why we talk about a hundred percent renewable.”
But when asked whether, as PIF chair, he would make alignment with those goals a non-negotiable benchmark for dialogue partners, Whipps rejected that characterization.
“No, no. There’s nothing that’s non-negotiable,” he said.
Instead, he said the Pacific itself would ultimately determine which partnerships meet its values and priorities.
“It’s up to the Pacific to say, ‘Well, we don’t wanna be partnered with you because you don’t meet the values or you’re not meeting the criteria that we want to see,’” Whipps said.
His comments come as the PIF reviews its regional architecture and considers how different categories of partners will engage with the Pacific.
Whipps said the Forum should provide a platform for dialogue partners, development partners and future forms of partnership to explain how they intend to engage with Pacific countries.
“What’s most important is for partners, whether you’re a dialog partner, a development partner, or going forward, what other way that you will be a partner, is really, this provides a stage for you to share how you wanna engage with Pacific,” he said.
He also delivered a pointed message about the purpose of those relationships.
“It’s not just a time to get together and ask for votes,” Whipps said. “It should be about what are Pacific priorities.”
Climate and energy are among those priorities.
Whipps said he hopes Pacific leaders will speak with one voice on a 100% renewable-energy Pacific, keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, ocean health and the “30 by 30” conservation goal, as well as climate finance through the Pacific Resilience Facility.
He said the renewable-energy push is not only about climate change but also energy security, an increasingly urgent issue for island economies vulnerable to high fuel costs.
The president said Pacific countries need genuine partnerships involving governments and the private sector, from engineering and procurement to construction, to overcome the logistical challenges of transitioning energy systems across remote islands.
“We’re small enough, we can be an incubator that the rest of the world can start,” Whipps said, suggesting Australia and New Zealand could focus first on helping Pacific island countries make the transition before applying lessons more broadly.
Whipps also pointed to Japan as an example of a long-standing development partner that could play a larger role in the region’s energy transition, fisheries and ocean priorities.
He said Japan has been an important Pacific partner in infrastructure, health and education and has also helped with energy transformation. Palau would like to see greater investment in energy transition, fisheries and ocean protection.
The broader message from Palau’s PIF chairmanship is that Pacific countries want partnerships measured by results.
Whipps said the Forum should focus on what partners can do to help achieve a 100% renewable Pacific, establish the Pacific Resilience Facility and unlock “Blue Pacific prosperity.”
That approach also reflects Palau’s position that Pacific countries should retain the sovereignty to determine their own partnerships.
“We’ve made it very clear from the beginning that Taiwan is a development partner. China is a dialogue partner,” Whipps said in response to questions about geopolitical pressure surrounding the Forum. “We welcome all partners to come to Palau.”
As the Forum’s new architecture takes shape, the challenge for Pacific leaders will be to translate that principle into practical expectations: partnerships that respect Pacific sovereignty while providing measurable support for the region’s priorities on climate, renewable energy, ocean health, resilience, security and economic development.
For Whipps, the test is not simply who attends the Forum, but what they are prepared to do.
“Let’s not use this as a place that we should be threatening,” he said. Instead, he urged partners to focus on “partnerships with the Pacific” and on meeting the ambitions set by Pacific countries.