It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Ford to immediately pause work on massive, controversial Marshall project
Dave Boucher, Phoebe Wall Howard and Clara Hendrickson, Detroit Free Press Updated Tue, September 26, 2023
“We’re pausing work and limiting spending on construction on the Marshall site, effective today, until we’re confident about our ability to competitively operate the plant," Ford spokesman T.R. Reid told the Detroit Free Press on Monday.
"We haven’t made any final decision about the planned investment there."
Earlier this year, Whitmer and Ford CEO Jim Farley announced a plan to invest $3.5 billion and create 2,500 jobs at the site, located just outside Marshall, a town a few miles east of Battle Creek. As part of the deal, Whitmer, state lawmakers and local officials agreed to provide the automaker a combined $1.7 billion in public subsidies. - ADVERTISEMENT -
Whitmer spokesperson Bobby Leddy said the governor remains focused on maintaining Michigan's edge in the auto sector and defended spending on large economic development deals like the one with Ford as a way to secure auto jobs in the state.
"Ford has been clear that this is a pause, and we hope negotiations between the Big Three and UAW will be successful so that Michiganders can get back to work doing what they do best," he said.
This latest development from Ford, involving the Marshall project, comes during the second week of a UAW strike on the Detroit Three automakers. Ford was the only company that did not get hit with expanded strike targets Friday because, UAW President Shawn Fain said, the Dearborn automaker was making significant progress during negotiations.
Ford may be closer than General Motors or Stellantis to getting a tentative agreement with the UAW. The timing of the shift on the Marshall project may be related to battery plant and joint venture deal points being debated among negotiators behind closed doors.
Ford declined to discuss details related to the Marshall project decision, including why the decision was made this week.
Several hours after Ford publicly shared its decision to pause construction, Fain bashed the automaker Monday evening.
"This is a shameful, barely-veiled threat by Ford to cut jobs," he said in a statement. "Closing 65 plants over the last 20 years wasn’t enough for the Big Three, now they want to threaten us with closing plants that aren’t even open yet. We are simply asking for a just transition to electric vehicles and Ford is instead doubling down on their race to the bottom."
Fain has been vocal about the importance of including the UAW in battery plant conversations with the expectation of not preventing the union from organizing and seeking competitive wages.
Whitmer has touted large electric vehicle projects like the battery plant Ford announced as a key component of her administration's approach to revitalizing the state’s economy.
After Ford passed over Michigan to build plants in Kentucky and Tennessee two years ago, Whitmer secured bipartisan support to create a new economic development fund that has since committed hundreds of millions to companies promising to create new jobs in the state. But she has encountered a growing bipartisan chorus casting doubt on her economic development approach.
House Minority Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, blasted Whitmer for Ford's construction pause at its Marshall site. "After failing to land other high-profile Ford deals, Gov. Whitmer gave away the store to bring Ford to Marshall. But with Democrats pushing policies that make Michigan less competitive, the $1.7 billion in subsidies and tax incentives still fell short," he said in a statement Monday. He predicted Michigan would lose out on jobs in the future and laid blame on Democratic policies.
Whitmer has celebrated Ford's planned investment. Earlier this month, Whitmer said Michigan was on the cusp of securing a dominant place in the transition to electric vehicles and said she was proud of her administration's work to secure battery investments like the one Ford planned near Marshall. "We're poised to be one of the leaders in the world when it comes to batteries," she told reporters at the Detroit auto show before walking around the floor to check out the latest electric vehicle models, including Ford's.
Economic development officials at the state and local level echoed Whitmer's optimism the project might restart after the end of the strike.
"We hope current negotiations between Ford and the UAW conclude in a mutually beneficial manner and we remain confident this project will continue as planned once these negotiations are complete," said Jim Durian, CEO of Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance, in a statement.
Otie McKinley, a spokesman for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, said the agency is "staying the course" at the Marshall site.
"We continue working closely with our partners in the community as Team Michigan moves forward on developing a world-class site that creates good paying jobs, brings supply chains home to Michigan and enables us to compete to make more in Michigan," McKinley said in a statement.
The project in Marshall prompted pushback from many in the community. Some offered unfounded fears about Chinese influence — Ford planned to partner with a Chinese battery company at the site — but others questioned the transparency of the process and substantial change it would bring to the community.
Glenn Kowalske and his wife are helping the Committee for Marshall – Not the Megasite, which is working to prevent the Ford factory from locating in the Marshall area. Reached Monday afternoon, Glenn said his wife was en route to the site and if work had actually stopped, it'd be fantastic news.
"I think, naive or not, I think we thought that if we worked hard enough and convinced people of the concerns that it could happen. We wouldn't have been going through this since December if we didn't believe there was a chance," Glenn Kowalske said.
Regis Klingler, a retired engineer who lives in Marshall and helps lead the committee, told the Free Press on Monday, “Any pause in the construction is good news to us. We hope it’s going to be permanent but time will tell what the real reason is. I suspect it might be the UAW strike, but I’m not sure.”
Chris Bowman, his wife and three children live in a house that backs up to the Kalamazoo River, directly across from the planned Ford site. For months, they say construction dust blew incessantly through their windows and the work woke them early in the morning.
“Everybody living next to it is going to see it as a huge positive, no doubt,” Bowman said Monday afternoon, reacting to Ford's decision to pause at the site.
Even if Ford ultimately abandons the project — still far from a certainty — he said he’s concerned a different large industrial project will swoop in instead. If there is a pause for any amount of time, Bowman said he hopes local leaders do more to actively engage their neighbors about the usage for the site.
“The people should deserve a voice in this process … no one considered whether it’s right, ethically. Maybe they’ll look at the situation, listen to the community and rethink the whole thing," Bowman said.
Janet Kreger, of Ann Arbor, co-founder and president of the Michigan Historic Preservation Network, told the Free Press that concerned members of the Marshall community reached out for support in January.
Preservationists concerned about the Ford project in Marshall see issues of land use, zoning and potential environmental damage to a nearby river. “Industrial development, when carefully planned, can have a positive impact on a community. This was an infusion of size, scope, people and infrastructure that was going to overwhelm a highly historic community in Michigan. Marshall is a small town," Kreger said.
Marshall Mayor Jim Schwartz, City Manager Derek Perry and City Clerk Michelle Eubank couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.
This is a developing story. Check freep.com for updates as they become available.
Contact Dave Boucher: dboucher@freepress.com and on X, previously called Twitter, @Dave_Boucher1.
The announcement brings Canada's total financial pledge to Ukraine to more than $9.5 billion since the beginning of 2022, according to the Canadian Press.
An Angus Reid poll conducted in February 2023 found declining support, compared to one year prior or since the early days of the conflict, among Canadians for the government's ongoing funding of Ukraine's battle against Russian forces.
In March 2022, 61 per cent of respondents supported Canada providing Ukraine with defensive weapons and gear. By February 2023, that number had dipped to 52 per cent.
Add in housing and cost of living crises, and last week's multi-million dollar pledge has Canadians feeling Ottawa should be doing more to address issues at home.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) speaks during a news conference on Parliament Hill on September 22, 2023 in Ottawa as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on.
(Photo by Dave Chan / AFP)
But Lucan Way, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto, notes that the estimated $9.5 billion Ottawa has given to Ukraine since 2022 is around 1 per cent of the government's overall expenditures. To many Canadians, that is worth it, especially given the threat posed by Russia through its invasion of Ukraine and threat to other NATO members, an alliance of 30 countries in North America and Europe that includes Canada.
“This is clearly a very aggressive anti-democratic, anti-liberal regime in Russia that will basically do anything to destroy rule-based order, so this is an important investment for Canada right now, ” Way tells Yahoo News Canada.
He adds that Canada is a rich country that can afford to help other countries in crisis, as well as support its own.
“I don’t think there’s any evidence that somehow expenditures to Ukraine are taking a single coin away from Canadian expenditures,” he says.
Aside from the broader implications of allowing Vladimir Putin to violate international norms, Canada has a vested interest in Ukraine given the number of Ukrainians living in the country who still have relatives back home, Way adds.
“This has direct effects on people’s lives,” Way says. “The stakes are very high.”
Jack Cunningham is the program coordinator for the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History. He says Canada's financial contribution to Ukraine is an open-ended commitment and will remain that way until leadership in the region changes.
"The Ukrainians are not clearly winning but they're not clearly losing either," he says. "It's going to be a long slog and we shouldn't delude ourselves on that front. The whole situation probably is not going to be rectified until we have regime change in the Kremlin."
According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, of 42 international donors, Canada ranks seventh in worldwide military, humanitarian and financial commitment to Ukraine.
Between Jan. 24, 2022 and July 31, 2023, the top three countries that financially support Ukraine are EU institutions with €84 billion ($119 billion CAD), the Unite States with €69 billion ($98 billion CAD), and Germany, which has pledged €20 billion ($28 billion CAD).
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky arrive for a news conference on Parliament Hill on September 22, 2023 in Ottawa.
(Photo by Dave Chan / AFP)
TORTURE THEN DEATH
Alabama inmate opposes being 'test subject' for new nitrogen execution method
Associated Press Updated Mon, September 25, 2023
This undated photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was convicted in a 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher's wife. Attorneys for Smith are asking the Alabama Supreme Court to reject the state's request to set an execution date for him using the new execution method of nitrogen hypoxia, saying Friday, Sept. 22, 2023, that Alabama is trying to make him the “test subject” for the new method.
(Alabama Department of Corrections via AP, File)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama inmate would be the test subject for the “experimental” execution method of nitrogen hypoxia, his lawyers argued, as they asked judges to deny the state’s request to carry out his death sentence using the new method.
In a Friday court filing, attorneys for Kenneth Eugene Smith asked the Alabama Supreme Court to reject the state attorney general’s request to set an execution date for Smith using the proposed new execution method. Nitrogen gas is authorized as an execution method in three states but it has never been used to put an inmate to death.
Smith's attorneys argued the state has disclosed little information about how nitrogen executions would work, releasing only a redacted copy of the proposed protocol.
“The state seeks to make Mr. Smith the test subject for the first ever attempted execution by an untested and only recently released protocol for executing condemned people by the novel method of nitrogen hypoxia,” Smith’s attorneys wrote.
Under the proposed method, hypoxia would be caused by forcing the inmate to breathe only nitrogen, depriving them of oxygen needed to maintain bodily functions and causing them to die. Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air inhaled by humans and is harmless when inhaled with oxygen. While proponents of the new method have theorized it would be painless, opponents have likened it to human experimentation.
The lawyers said Smith “already has been put through one failed execution attempt” in November when the state tried to put him to death via lethal injection. The Alabama Department of Corrections called off the execution when the execution team could not get the required two intravenous lines connected to Smith.
His attorneys said Smith has ongoing appeals and accused the state of trying to move Smith to “the front of the line" ahead of other inmates in order to moot Smith’s lawsuit challenging lethal injection procedures.
Alabama authorized nitrogen hypoxia in 2018, but the state has not attempted to use it until now to carry out a death sentence. Oklahoma and Mississippi have also authorized nitrogen hypoxia, but have not used it.
Trip Pittman, the former Alabama state senator who proposed the new execution method, has disputed criticism that the method is experimental. He said that while no state has carried out a death sentence with nitrogen, people have died by breathing nitrogen during industrial accidents and suicide attempts, so the effects are known.
Smith was convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett in Alabama’s Colbert County.
Prosecutors said Smith was one of two men who were each paid $1,000 to kill Sennett on behalf of her husband who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect on insurance. The other man convicted in the killing was executed in 2010. Charles Sennett, the victim’s husband and a Church of Christ pastor, killed himself when the investigation began to focus on him as a possible suspect, according to court documents.
Water-sharing protests disrupt India's tech hub of Bengaluru
Updated Tue, September 26, 2023 Police officers intervene as a man attempts to hang himself during a protest in Bengaluru
By VarunVyas Hebbalalu and Dhanya Skariachan
BENGALURU, India (Reuters) - Police detained protesters on Tuesday in India's tech hub of Bengaluru after one tried to commit suicide and another was injured while demonstrating against the sharing of water from a river that flows through two states, media and officials said.
Farmers' groups called the protest, which forced employees of multinationals such as Walmart and Alphabet's Google to work from home.
At one protest site called Freedom Park, a demonstrator tried to commit suicide while another farmer was injured, a domestic news channel said, with police detaining others.
Earlier, a senior police officer, K. Santosh Babu, said emergency orders had been imposed.
Schools and colleges were shut in the capital of the southern state of Karnataka, home to more than 3,500 tech companies.
Some farmers vowed to keep up the protests and widen them across the state this week, however.
"I can shed my blood but I don't want to give water to Tamil Nadu," said one protester, Ravi Mallikarjuna.
Farmers and politicians from Karnataka and the adjoining state of Tamil Nadu have been locked for decades in a legal dispute over sharing the waters of the Cauvery river.
The Supreme Court recently ordered the release of water by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu for 15 days from Sept. 13, but state officials said they could not comply as they had to first fill the needs of households and farmers in the state.
The deputy chief minister, D.K. Shivakumar, said Karnataka would struggle to release anywhere near the volume of water sought by Tamil Nadu, or 12,500 cusecs (354,000 litres).
"We are in a situation where we cannot even release 5,000 cusecs daily (142,000 litres)," he added.
The delay provoked small demonstrations near a railway station in Tamil Nadu.
The Cauvery river originates in the Karnataka region of Talakaveri, flowing through Tamil Nadu into the Bay of Bengal.
Some environmentalists have called for an audit of the river to help end the dispute, amid water scarcity in both states brought by changing patterns of rainfall.
"The judiciary should have asked for a fresh audit of the river instead of dictating terms to the Karnataka government," said T. V. Ramachandra, of the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science.
(Writing by Rupam Jain; Editing by Miral Fahmy and Clarence Fernandez)
INDENTURED SERVITUDE IS SLAVERY
Medical license suspended for NJ doctor who illegally harbored unpaid Indian workers
Suzanne Russell, MyCentralJersey.com Mon, September 25, 2023
A Colonia-based doctor's medical license has been temporarily suspended for illegally recruiting, concealing and harboring two women from India to work as her household servants and allegedly preventing one of them from receiving life-saving treatment for a brain aneurysm, according to Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin.
As part of a consent order filed with the State Board of Medical Examiners last week, Dr. Harsha Sahni, 66, who has a rheumatology practice in the Colonia section of Woodbridge, consented to the temporary suspension of her medical license pending the outcome of an administrative action seeking to permanently revoke her license in the wake of her criminal conviction.
The administrative action, part of verified complaint filed with the medical examiners board on Aug. 31, 2023, alleges Sahni’s crimes, and her actions in perpetrating them, violate professional standards, demonstrate an appalling lack of judgment and moral character, and are of a nature such that her continued licensure would be inconsistent with the public’s health, safety, and welfare, according to the Attorney General's Office.
In February Sahni pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges of conspiracy to conceal and harbor aliens and filing a false tax return in connection with her conduct while harboring two Indian nationals from 2013 through 2021. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 5 before U.S. District Judge Georgette Castner in Trenton federal court. As part of the plea agreement, the doctor faces up to 30 months in federal prison as well as paying the victims a combined $642,212 and up to $200,000 toward the treatment of one worker's brain aneurysm and restitution to the IRS.
According to court documents, from 2013 through August 2021 Sahni conspired with others to conceal and harbor two foreign nationals from India, who Sahni recruited to work for her and her family in their homes in New Jersey. Sahni harbored the victims for her and her conspirators’ financial gain and paid the victims’ families in India in exchange for their labor.
Sahni forced the women, who lived in her Tinton Falls home, to work 15-hour days, seven days a week, and led them to believe they would be arrested and deported if they spoke with law enforcement. In addition, the doctor would not allow one woman to receive treatment for a brain aneurysm until she first found someone to take over her duties at the doctor's home.
“The criminal exploitation and utter disregard for the well-being of the victims in this case shocks the conscience and violates the most basic principles of medical practice,” Platkin said in a statement. “To protect the public and the integrity of the medical profession, we are securing the temporary suspension of Dr. Sahni’s medical license pending the outcome of these very serious allegations against her.”
In pleading guilty to the criminal charges, Sahni admitted she knew the women were in the country illegally and that she harbored them for financial gain and caused them both to believe that they would be arrested and deported if they interacted with law enforcement. The doctor provided the victims with food, clothing, and housing and harbored them to work as housekeepers for low pay and instructed the women to tell immigration officials they were family members, visiting as tourists.
The doctor also admitted to not paying taxes related to the women's work and did not disclose their labor on her personal income tax return, according to the Attorney General's Office. One worker who lived in the doctor's home worked from about 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. for about $240 to $600 a month, money the doctor paid to the woman's family in India.
According to the Attorney General's Office, the doctor also defrauded others into providing free and reduced medical care to that woman by falsely claiming in 2016 that one worker had been abused by her husband and arranging for a domestic violence charity to provide the worker with $6,000 in dental treatment for free. Sahni filled out the charity's advocate form because the worker could not speak, read or write in English.
That same worker began developing headaches after a 2014 car accident, and Sahni told her that rest was not permitted and she should take Tylenol and finish working. As the worker's headaches got worse the doctor told her that seeing a physician would be too expensive and she could not be treated because of her illegal status and continued to have the worker take Tylenol and other pain medications, according to the Attorney General's Office.
In 2021 when the headaches kept the worker from performing her duties, she was taken to the emergency room where a head scan showed an unruptured brain aneurysm and was advised to undergo immediate surgery or she could die. Sahni who identified herself as the worker's sister and served as translator, urged the worker to leave the hospital and once home required the woman to work the rest of the day to complete her duties, according to the Attorney General's Office.
Sahni took the work for a follow-up examination at JFK University Medical Center’s Neuroscience Institute the next day where neurosurgeons concluded that because of the aneurysm's size there was a 1-in-5 chance that it would rupture and woman could die. Sahni, however, who represented herself as the worker's primary care physician, continued to advise the worker not to undergo surgery and continue to complete her household duties, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The worker contacted family members in India who encouraged her to have the surgery, but Sahni told her she could not undergo surgery until she found a worker to replace her. There is no evidence in the worker's medical record that Sahni ever took her for follow-up treatment or scheduled the surgery prior to law enforcement removing the worker from the doctor's home, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Email: srussell@gannettnj.com Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem.
Worker forced to toil in doctor's Tinton Falls home with life-threatening aneurysm
Kathleen Hopkins, Asbury Park Press Mon, September 25, 2023
TRENTON — State authorities have suspended the medical license of a Central Jersey physician who they say forced two undocumented workers to toil long hours for low pay as domestic servants in her Tinton Falls home, while prohibiting one of them from getting surgery for a potentially deadly brain aneurysm until the worker could find a replacement.
With a hearing pending before the state Board of Medical Examiners to permanently revoke her license to practice medicine and surgery, Dr. Harsha Sahni, 67, last week agreed to a temporary suspension of her license, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
The attorney general and the state Division of Consumer Affairs are seeking permanent revocation of the license for conduct related to federal criminal charges Sahni pleaded guilty to in February, for which she is awaiting sentencing.
Sahni, who has a rheumatology practice in the Colonia section of Woodbridge, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conceal and harbor aliens and filing a false tax return in connection with her harboring two Indian nationals in her home from 2013 through 2021.
A complaint filed with the medical examiner's board seeking the license revocation alleges Sahni's actions in perpetrating the crimes "violate professional standards, demonstrate an appalling lack of judgment and moral character and are of a nature such that her continued licensure would be inconsistent with the public's health, safety and welfare.''
The complaint alleges that one of the victims lived in Sahni's home and was required to work from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. for between $240 to $600 a month, which Sahni paid to the victim's family in India.
The complaint also alleges Sahni prevented that victim from receiving surgery for a life-threatening brain aneurysm.
The aneurysm was discovered as the victim was suffering headaches that grew progressively worse following a car accident in 2014, the complaint said. Sahni allegedly told the woman she was not permitted to rest and to take Tylenol for her headaches and complete her work, it said.
As the headaches worsened, Sahni allegedly told the woman she could not receive treatment because she was in the United States illegally and seeing a doctor would be too expensive, the complaint said.
When the woman's headaches became so debilitating that she couldn't work, Sahni brought her to the emergency room at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank on April 28, 2021, the complaint said. Tests there revealed a large brain aneurysm for which doctors recommended immediate transfer to the neurology intensive care unit at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, the complaint said. Doctors advised that without medical intervention, the woman faced possible rupture of the aneurysm and even death, it said.
Sahni, who falsely represented herself to the doctors as the woman's sister, translated the doctor's advice to the woman, who did not speak English, the complaint said. After Sahni had a lengthy conversation with the woman, Sahni advised the doctors that the woman wanted to go home against medical advice, the complaint said.
The victim then went to Sahni's home, where she was required to complete her normal workload, according to the complaint.
At a followup appointment the following day, doctors explained there was a one in five chance that without surgery, the aneurysm would rupture, and the patient would die, the complaint said.
When the woman expressed a desire to have the surgery, Sahni told her she "could not have surgery until she secured a replacement to work in the respondent's home,'' the complaint said. Sahni continued to force the woman to work knowing she had an aneurysm that could rupture, it said.
Authorities said there was no evidence in the victim's medical records that Sahni ever took the woman for treatment or scheduled the surgery before law enforcement removed the victim from the physician's home.
The complaint also alleges that Sahni defrauded various entities into providing free and reduced-cost dental and medical care to the woman. Sahni falsely claimed on certifications that she believed the woman's dental problems were the result of domestic violence, which resulted in treatment valued at $6,000 that was performed by a volunteer dentist, the complaint said. Similarly, Sahni misrepresented the woman's income, housing and employment status on an application to the Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey's Community Health Center, resulting in the woman receiving services for a reduced fee, according to the complaint.
When she entered her guilty pleas in federal court, Sahni admitted she knew the two women whom she employed as domestic workers were in the country illegally and that she harbored them for financial gain and caused both of them to believe they would be arrested and deported if they interacted with law enforcement.
Sahni further admitted she provided the victims with food, clothing and housing and made them work as housekeepers at a price less than what she would have had to pay had she employed them legally.
Sahni also admitted telling the women to lie to immigration officials and say they were members of her family who were just visiting the United States. And, she admitted not paying taxes related to their labor or disclosing the work they performed for her on personal tax returns.
"The criminal exploitation and utter disregard for the well-being of the victims in this case shocks the conscience and violates the most basic principles of medical practice,'' Platkin said.
Sahni is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Trenton on Oct. 5.
Her plea bargain calls for up to 30 months in federal prison and requires that she pay a total of $642,212 to the victims and up to $200,000 toward treatment of the one victim's brain aneurysm. Sahni also will be required to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press:
STOP AMLO'S TRAIN! Ancient Maya grave found in Mexico as tourist rail project advances
Mon, September 25, 2023
By Carolina Pulice
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican archaeologists unearthed a richly adorned human body in a grave that could be more than 1,000 years old, in an area where workers were finishing construction on a major tourist rail project, the country's national antiquities institute INAH said on Monday.
The discovery took place this month during archaeological salvage work carried out in tandem with building a multibillion-dollar tourist train in southern Mexico designed in large part to draw tourists to southern Mexico's many ancient Maya sites, as well as nearby top beach resorts like Cancun and Tulum.
The rail project, known as the Maya Train, is a top economic development priority of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. It employs teams of relatively well-funded archaeologists who have rushed to complete excavations so the construction work will not be delayed. Digs elsewhere in the country have suffered budget cuts.
The latest burial discovery took place during work on the construction of a hotel near the major Maya ruins of Palenque in Chiapas state, once home to one of the ancient civilization's largest and most sophisticated urban centers.
The skeletal remains were found some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the city's center, home to towering temples and a sprawling palace compound, in a stone box. They likely pertain to an elite resident of the city, known by the ancient Maya as Lakamha'.
The box also held three ceramic vessels, ear flares and a pair of greenstone beads.
INAH also noted that the individual was buried face up, his head facing north, adding that further testes are needed to determine the individual's exact age and other characteristics.
Scholars credit the ancient Maya with major human achievements in art, architecture, astronomy and writing.
Palenque, like dozens of other ancient cities clustered around southern Mexico and parts of Central America, thrived from around 300-900 AD.
(Reporting by Carolina Pulice; Editing by David Alire Garcia and David Gregorio)
Richest oil states should pay climate tax, says Gordon Brown
BBC Sun, September 24, 2023 Gordon Brown accused world leaders of coming up "abysmally short" in their efforts to lower carbon emissions
The world's richest oil states should pay a global windfall tax to help poorer nations combat climate change, ex-PM Gordon Brown has said.
He said countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Norway benefited from a "lottery style bonanza" last year, as the price of oil soared.
Mr Brown argues a $25bn (£20.4bn) levy would boost prospects of a deal on a climate fund for poorer countries.
His intervention comes ahead of the COP28 summit in Dubai in November.
Speaking at last week's Climate Ambition Summit at the United Nations in New York, Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that world leaders were coming up "abysmally short" in their efforts to curb carbon emissions.
He called for the world's biggest emitters to agree a climate solidarity pact to reduce emissions and support emerging economies.
Mr Brown said his plan would prevent a stalemate and potential breakdown at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - one of the richest oil producers identified.
He said "petro-states" had recorded "almost unimaginable profits" from the rise in oil price in recent years, with the five richest - which also include Kuwait - doubling their oil revenues in 2022.
Quoting figures from the International Energy Association (IEA), he said global oil and gas revenues had soared from $1.5tn (£1.2tn) before the Covid pandemic to an unprecedented $4tn (£3.3tn).
"To put these extraordinary figures into context, $4tn is 20 times the entire global aid budget. It is an income so big that it exceeds the entire GDP of the United Kingdom," he said.
"These producer states have done literally nothing to earn this unprecedented windfall. It represents one of the biggest ever transfers of wealth from poor to rich nations."
Mr Brown added the high price of oil and gas had been the main factor in potentially pushing an additional 141 million people around the world into extreme poverty, which is the high range of an estimate from a scientific study carried out earlier this year.
He called for the wealthiest oil states to contribute 3% of their export earnings - equivalent to a total of $25bn (£20.4bn) in 2022, saying "it is the very least they could do".
The former prime minister - a UN envoy for global education and World Health Organisation ambassador for global health financing - said "the consequences of such a grand gesture would be immense".
"We would be giving crisis-torn countries what has been absent in recent summits: hope," he said.
Biden tells Pacific islands leaders that he hears their warnings about climate change and will act
AAMER MADHANI and WILL WEISSERT Updated Mon, September 25, 2023
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday told leaders from the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum that he has heard their warnings about the impact of climate change on their region and that his administration is committed to helping them meet the challenge.
Pacific islands leaders gathered Monday for the start of a two-day Washington summit. Many have been critical of rich countries for not doing enough to control climate change despite being responsible for much of the problem, and for profiting from loans provided to vulnerable nations to mitigate the effects.
At the summit’s start, Biden said his administration is requesting Congress approve $200 million in new assistance for the region, including financing to help the islands prepare for climate and natural hazards and improve infrastructure. Biden has put a premium on improving ties in the Pacific at a time of rising U.S. concern about China’s growing military and economic influence.
“I want you to know I hear you, the people in the United States and around the world hear you,” Biden told the leaders. “We hear your warnings of a rising sea and (that) they pose an existential threat to your nations. We hear your calls for reassurance that you never, never, never will lose your statehood, or membership of the U.N. as a result of a climate crisis. Today, the United States is making it clear that this is our position as well." - ADVERTISEMENT -
As part of the summit, the U.S. is formally establishing diplomatic relations with two South Pacific nations, the Cook Islands and Niue. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took part in separate signing ceremonies with Niue Premier Dalton Tagelagi and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown to mark the new elevated relations.
“Today, we celebrate shared history, common values and people-to-people ties between our two nations, Tagelagi said at the Niue ceremony. ”We have been looking forward to this day.”
Brown welcomed the elevation of U.S. relations with the Cook Islands and said the U.S.-Pacific islands partnership could be an important tool for helping the region achieve its aspirations.
“These milestones celebrate areas of change and demonstrate that with unshakable resolve and leadership, remarkable achievements are possible,” Brown said.
The forum includes Australia, the Cook Islands, Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
Kiribati signed onto a $29.1 million partnership with the U.S.-backed Millennium Corporation Challenge. The group will assist the island country with dozens of low-lying atolls and help boost its workforce.
Some of the leaders attended an NFL game in Baltimore on Sunday and visited a U.S. Coast Guard cutter in the city's harbor for a briefing on combating illegal fishing and other maritime issues. Biden announced Monday that later this year he would deploy a U.S. Coast Guard vessel to the region to collaborate and train with Pacific islands nations.
At last year's summit, the White House unveiled its Pacific strategy, an outline of its plan to assist the region’s leaders on pressing issues like climate change, maritime security and protecting the region from overfishing. The administration pledged the U.S. would add $810 million in new aid for Pacific islands nations over the next decade, including $130 million on efforts to stymie the impacts of climate change.
The leaders also met Monday with Biden's special envoy on climate, John Kerry, for closed-door talks focused on climate change. Blinken and U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield were hosting the leaders at the State Department for a dinner.
Kerry and Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, will host the leaders on Tuesday for climate talks with members of the philanthropic community. The leaders also plan to meet with members of Congress. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will host a roundtable with the leaders and members of the business community.
Power last month traveled to Fiji to open a new USAID mission that will manage agency programs in nine Pacific islands countries: Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau. The U.S. this year has opened embassies in Solomon Islands and Tonga, and is on track to open an embassy in Vanuatu early next year.
Biden earlier this year had to cut short a planned visit to the Indo-Pacific, scrapping what was to be a historic stop in Papua New Guinea, as well as a visit to Australia for a gathering with fellow leaders of the so-called Quad partnership so he could focus on debt limit talks in Washington. He would have been the first sitting U.S. president to visit Papua New Guinea.
Biden is set to honor Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with a state visit next month.
Biden makes new pledges to Pacific island leaders as China's influence grows
Steve Holland, David Brunnstrom and Kirsty Needham Updated Mon, September 25, 2023 U.S. President Biden hosts a summit with Pacific Island nation leaders in Washington, U.S.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden met Pacific island leaders for a second White House summit in just over a year on Monday, part of a charm offensive aimed at curbing inroads by China into a region Washington considers strategically crucial.
Before welcoming the island leaders, gathered under the umbrella of the 18-nation Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), Biden announced U.S. diplomatic recognition of two more Pacific islands nations, the Cook Islands and Niue.
"The United States is committed to ensuring an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, prosperous, and secure. We’re committed to working with all the nations around this table to achieve that goal," Biden said at the welcoming ceremony.
Biden pledged to work with Congress to provide $200 million more in funding for projects in the region aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change, spurring economic growth, countering illegal fishing and improving public health, according to a document issued after a working lunch with the group.
"These new programs and activities continue to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to work together with the Pacific Islands to expand and deepen our cooperation in the years ahead," the document said.
A joint statement said the sides agreed to hold another summit in 2025 and political engagements every two years thereafter.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, the island forum's chair, called the summit "an opportunity ... to develop our partnerships for prosperity." He urged Washington "to actively engage at the highest level" in the 52nd PIF leaders meeting he would host in a few weeks to endorse its 2050 Strategy.
U.S. WANTS TO HELP ISLAND NATIONS FEND OFF CHINA
Biden hosted an inaugural summit of 14 Pacific island nations a year ago and was to meet them again in Papua New Guinea in May. That meeting was scrapped when a U.S. debt- ceiling crisis forced Biden to cut short an Asia trip.
Last year, his administration pledged to help islanders fend off China's "economic coercion" and a joint declaration resolved to strengthen their partnership, saying they shared a vision for a region where "democracy will be able to flourish."
Biden said recognizing the Cook Islands and Niue would "enable us to expand the scope of this enduring partnership as we seek to tackle the challenges that matter most to our peoples' lives."
He highlighted a personal link to the region - an uncle killed in World War Two after crash landing off the coast of Papua New Guinea. He said the summit, as then, was "to build a better world."
In Baltimore on Sunday, Pacific island leaders visited a Coast Guard cutter in the harbor and were briefed on combating illegal fishing by the Commandant of the Coast Guard.
They also attended Sunday's National Football League (NFL) game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts. Dozens of NFL players are of Pacific Islander heritage.
SOME SKIP SUMMIT
Representatives of all 18 PIF members attended the summit, but not all at leader level.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who has deepened ties with China, did not attend, and a senior Biden administration official said the U.S. was "disappointed" by that.
Washington appears to have made no progress on offers of substantial infrastructure funding and expanded aid to the Solomons. Sogavare visited China in July, announcing a policing agreement with Beijing that builds on a security pact signed last year.
The White House in 2022 said the U.S. would invest more than $810 million in expanded programs to aid the Pacific islands.
Meg Keen, director of Pacific Island Programs at Australia's Lowy Institute, said that although the U.S. had opened new embassies and a USAID office in the region since last year's summit, Congress had yet to approve most of the funding pledges made last year.
She added that Pacific island countries "welcome the U.S. re-engagement with the region, but don't want geopolitical tussles to result in an escalation of militarization." Vanuatu Prime Minister Sato Kilman also did not attend the summit. He was elected two weeks ago to replace Ishmael Kalsakau, who lost a no-confidence vote for actions including signing a security pact with U.S. ally Australia.
The U.S. is still negotiating to open an embassy in Vanuatu, but has not significantly increased engagement with that nation, which counts China as its largest external creditor. China signed a policing agreement with Vanuatu last month.
A senior Biden administration official said the U.S. was on track to open the Vanuatu embassy by early next year.
Fiji has welcomed the stronger U.S. regional presence as making the Pacific "more secure," but Kiribati, one of the most remote Pacific island states, 2,500 miles (4,000km) southwest of Hawaii, said this year it plans to upgrade a former World War Two airstrip with Chinese assistance. A $29 million program to assist Kiribati youth find work internationally was signed at the summit.
Washington renewed agreements this year with Palau and Micronesia that give it exclusive military access to strategic parts of the Pacific, but has yet to do so with the Marshall Islands, which wants more money to deal with the legacy of massive U.S. nuclear testing in the 1940s and 50s.
The summit statement said the U.S. "plans to work expeditiously to meet the needs of the Republic of the Marshall Islands through ongoing Compact negotiations" and was committed to addressing its "ongoing environmental, public health concerns, and other welfare concerns."
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington and Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Don Durfee, Grant McCool and Gerry Doyle) Biden pledges more aid to Pacific islands to counter growing Chinese influence
Siosifa Pomana in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, and Julian Borger in Washington
THE GUARDIAN Mon, September 25, 2023 Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP
Joe Biden has offered more economic aid to Pacific islands at a White House meeting with leaders from the region aimed at bolstering US engagement in the face of a growing Chinese presence.
The president also announced formal US recognition of two new island nations, the Cook Islands and Niue, at the start of the Pacific Islands Forum, two days of Washington meetings with leaders from the group’s 18 members.
Looking back on the decisive battles fought in the Pacific 80 years ago, Biden told the summit: “Like our forebears during world war two, we know that a great deal of the history of our world will be written across the Pacific over the coming years.”
There was initial confusion of just how much money the US was going to give the region. In his remarks, Biden had mistakenly said the US would invest $40bn, then a US official said the amount should have been $40m for Pacific island infrastructure, and that was amended again to $200m in a written statement after the meeting.
The visiting leaders having been feted by the administration, brought down from New York where most attended the UN general assembly, on a special train to Baltimore where they were taken to an American football game at the Baltimore Ravens’ stadium. There they were brought out on field and celebrated for “for their roles as American friends in the Indo-Pacific”.
The Pacific leaders were also taken onboard a US Coast Guard cutter in Baltimore Harbor and they were briefed by the Coast Guard commandant, Adm Linda Fagan, on operations to combat illegal fishing and manage maritime domains. Over the next two days they will meet top members of the administration. The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, will host a dinner for the visitors on Monday night, and on the second night, the Australian embassy will host a barbecue.
“I think what the Biden administration has been able to do is to step up our game considerably in a short period of time in the Indo-Pacific,” a senior administration official said. “We have deep moral, strategic and historic interests here. And I think we’re reaffirming that promise.”
“I think it’d be fair to say that the United States is disappointed” in Sogavare’s decision, a senior administration official said.
Sogavare went home over the weekend after attending the UN general assembly. He refused to sign on to a US-Pacific partnership agreement last year, but did sign a security agreement with China last year, and agreed to increase cooperation on law enforcement and security matters.
From left, the Pacific Islands Forum secretary general, Henry Puna; President David Kabua of the Marshall Islands; Mark Brown, prime minister of Cook Islands; President Surangel Whipps Jr of Palau; President Wesley Simina of the Federated States of Micronesia; and Premier Dalton Tagelagi of Niue attend the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts NFL football game on Sunday in Baltimore.
Photograph: Nick Wass/APMore
The prime minister of Vanuatu, Sato Kilman, did not attend as he had to return to face a parliamentary vote of no confidence.
Part of the economic infrastructure aid Biden is offering includes secure undersea cable connectivity to Pacific island nations. However, the funding plans have to be submitted to Congress, where Republicans are threatening to shut down government in a standoff over spending.
As well as recognition for the Cook Islands and Niue, the administration has opened two new embassies in the Solomon Islands and Tonga. A USAid regional mission in Fiji and a US embassy in Vanuatu are planned for early next year in an effort to make up for decades of diplomatic neglect, as the Pacific becomes the focus of strategic competition with China.
The Pacific leaders were expected to push for more support for the climate crisis among other matters at the talks, and were due to meet the US climate envoy, John Kerry on Monday, where they will raise their fears that their nations will be wiped off the map.
In his remarks, Biden said the US heard their concerns about the “existential threat” posed by the climate emergency.
“We hear your calls for reassurance that you never, never, never will lose your statehood or membership at the UN as a result of a climate crisis,” the president told the Pacific leaders.
There was “no question that there is some role that the PRC [China] has played in all this … Its assertiveness and influence, including in this region, has been a factor that requires us to sustain our strategic focus,” AFP reported, citing a senior White House official on condition of anonymity.
“Given there has been a long absence, the US has been working quite quickly to make up lost ground,” Keen said.
“They have got back into the region. The region is waiting to see if the big commitments are going to be delivered.”
During the 2022 summit the US announced more than $800m in assistance to island states. The White House said in a statement that this year’s summit would reaffirm the US commitment to shared regional priorities and cooperation on key issues including the climate crisis and maritime security.
Tonga’s prime minister, Siaosi Sovaleni, told reporters the upcoming meeting was “an opportunity for us to share our concerns”.
In a high-level meeting in New York last week ahead of the summit, Sovaleni said Tonga’s top priorities were the climate crisis and oceans, and that he would seek new investors to support these challenges.
“The urgency for change is evident,” Sovaleni said.
Sovaleni is expected to discuss how the US can support better access to climate finance and improved oceans security and management.
The secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum, Henry Puna, told an event in New York last week that he hoped the summit would bring concrete actions on issues including the climate crisis. Leaders at the US-Pacific Island summit in September 2022.
Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Puna said the Pacific island region had gone from a period of strategic neglect a decade ago to a period of being a subject of strategic interest, competition and “manipulation” today – a reference to the geopolitical rivalry for influence in the region between the US and China.
Biden announces new diplomatic ties with two Pacific Island nations
Kyla Guilfoil and Molly Roecker Mon, September 25, 2023
President Joe Biden announced new diplomatic relations with two Pacific Island nations, the Cook Islands and Niue, on Monday at his second annual summit hosting Pacific Island leaders at the White House.
Biden said in a statement Monday that the new relations with the two nations would deepen the U.S.' cooperation in addressing climate change, protecting maritime borders and marine resources and advancing "a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”
A senior administration official said in a call with reporters outlining the summit that while there was no question that China's "assertiveness and influence, including in this region, has been a factor that requires us to sustain our strategic focus," the administration is focused on showing Pacific Island nations that its work with "like-minded partners" can create "viable alternatives that will work for Pacific island nations."
The White House released a joint statement with the 18 Pacific Island nations attending the summit Monday, reaffirming the declaration about the U.S.-Pacific Partnership that the countries made at last year's summit, which aimed to strengthen cooperation through trade, security and diplomatic ties.
The partnership "outlined our shared vision for a resilient Pacific region of peace, harmony, security, social inclusion, and prosperity, where individuals can reach their potential, the environment can thrive, and democracy can flourish," Monday's statement said.
The summit begins with Biden welcoming the leaders to the White House on Monday morning, followed by a working lunch. In the afternoon, Biden's special envoy for climate change, John Kerry, will join the leaders for discussions about the issue, the senior administration official said.
Monday evening, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield will host a dinner at the State Department, where the Cook Islands and Niue are expected to be recognized diplomatically.
The summit continues Tuesday, when Kerry will host a breakfast with Samantha Power, the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development; the Pacific Island leaders; and the philanthropic community to further discuss climate change. The visiting leaders will also meet with members of Congress and attend a roundtable with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about trade and investment, the senior official said.
Beyond the diplomatic welcome to the Cook Islands and Niue, Biden will look to open an embassy in Vanuatu by “early next year,” the senior official said. The administration will also announce multimillion-dollar projects in infrastructure across the Pacific Island nations, including an undersea cable project to strengthen internet connectivity, the official said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
US recognizes Cook Islands and Niue as independent states
Betsy Klein and Donald Judd, CNN Mon, September 25, 2023
The US is formally establishing diplomatic relations with a pair of Pacific Island nations Monday, recognizing the Cook Islands and Niue for the first time.
The recognition comes as President Joe Biden seeks to strengthen relationships in the Indo-Pacific region as a counter to China’s rising influence, something that’s been a major priority since he took office. The administration has worked to deepen its engagement with Pacific Island nations, and hosted the Pacific Island Forum leaders Monday at the White House.
Biden said in a pair of statements that he was “proud” to recognize Cook Islands and Niue as sovereign, independent states.
Niue, Biden said, “plays a critical and constructive role in the Pacific, including supporting the region’s sustainable development, security, and marine protection and ocean conservation.”
He continued, “Today’s announcement will enable us to deepen our cooperation with Niue on these challenges and more – from tackling the climate crisis, to protecting maritime borders and marine resources, to building sustainable economic growth, to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”
And the announcement with the Cook Islands, Biden said, “will enable us to expand the scope of this enduring partnership as we seek to tackle the challenges that matter most to our peoples’ lives – from countering illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, to combating climate change, to building inclusive economic growth, to advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and beyond.”
Biden unveiled new infrastructure funding for Pacific Island partner nations, and announce $10 million through the Quad partnership to improve maritime domain awareness in the Pacific. The PIF is made up of leaders from Nauru, Vanuatu, French Polynesia, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, the Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Palau, Samoa, and Tonga.
Biden hosted the leaders for a summit meeting and subsequent working lunch. They will also attend a roundtable with special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry before an evening dinner hosted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
“We know a great deal of the history of the world will be written across the Pacific over the coming years. We owe it to the next generation to help write that story together, to do the hard work, the historic work. … Today, let’s recommit to that goal and let’s recommit to each other,” Biden said as the leaders gathered in the East Room.
“Our objective is to build a better world,” through “stronger partnerships with each other,” he said, citing the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Cook Islands and Niue, as well as new economic agreements, new US Embassies in Tonga and the Solomon Islands, the return of the Peace Corps to some countries, and the doubling of academic exchanges for Pacific Island students.
US officials will take the opportunity during the Monday reception to formally celebrate the news that the US is officially opening diplomatic relations with the Cook Islands and Niue.
In addition to the new diplomatic relationships, the official said that the summit will see the United States announce steps “to provide secure undersea cable connectivity for Pacific Island nations – something that many of these nations need – where internet speed and connectivity is not as reliable as it should be, and where we all benefit.”
And the Quad partnership – an informal collaboration between Australia, India, Japan and the United States – will announce it is expanding 2022’s Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative to the Pacific Island region with a $10 million investment “to improve maritime domain awareness,” amidst an increasingly bellicose China.
During the meeting, Biden also touted US investment in the region, including $40 billion for infrastructure and connectivity, as well as a new microfinance facility and a $600 million agreement for sustainable development on the Pacific Island fisheries.
And he announced a new military partnership: “This we shall send the first US Coast Guard vessel solely dedicated to collaborate and train with Pacific Island nations,” he said, adding that the US will invest $11 million in maritime domain awareness technology to the region.
Biden also offered assurances to the leaders on climate change: “I want you to know I hear you. The people in United States and around the world hear you. We hear your warnings of a rising sea – that they pose an existential threat to your nations. We hear your calls for reassurance that you never, never, never will lose your statehood, or membership of the UN as result. climate crisis. Today, the United States is making it clear that this is our position as well.”
US establishes official ties with the Cook Islands, Niue ahead of Pacific Island summit
Miranda Nazzaro Mon, September 25, 2023
The United States established official ties with a pair of Pacific Island nations on Monday ahead of the start of President Biden’s summit with the region, marking the White House’s latest attempt to secure a greater American presence in the region.
In a statement Monday, Biden said he is “proud” to announce that the U.S. officially recognizes the Cook Islands and Niue as sovereign and independent states, setting Washington up for diplomatic relations between the two nations.
The recognition of the Cook Islands will allow the U.S. to expand its partnership with the nation, which dates back to World War II when U.S. military airport runways were built in parts of the island, Biden said.
He said he hopes this extended partnership will allow the nations to “tackle the challenges that matter most to our peoples’ lives—from countering illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, to combatting climate change, to building inclusive economic growth, to advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and beyond.”
With regards to Niue, the president said he hopes the U.S. can deepen its cooperation with the nation over tackling sustainable development, security, marine protection and ocean conservation in the region.
The move comes amid the White House’s continued efforts to push back on China’s growing military and economic influence in the region. Biden said the U.S. expects to work closely with the Cook Islands, Niue and other Pacific Island nations to “bolster Pacific regionalism.”
Biden welcomed Pacific Island leaders on Monday for the start of a two-day U.S.-Pacific Island Forum Summit, where leaders will lay out the objectives of the United States’ first-ever Pacific Partnership Strategy, which was unveiled last year.
The summit is slated to involve several nations including Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands and Niue. Official meetings are expected to involve Biden, senior members of the administration and members of Congress.
The summit involves the president “following up on his pledge to take our commitment and our engagement in the Pacific region to the next level,” officials said.
Pressed over if the United States’ competition with China is behind the renewal of this engagement, officials said it is a factor.
Leaders of the group were set to ride a special Amtrak train from New York to Baltimore on Sunday, where they attended a Ravens game and appeared on the field to “be recognized for their roles as American friends in the Indo-Pacific.” They were expected to go on a Coast Guard ship in Baltimore later Sunday to receive a briefing on maritime issues and U.S. efforts to combat illegal fishing before attending the summit on Monday. At Pacific Island Summit, White House recognizes sovereignty of Niue, Cook Islands
A.L. Lee & Clyde Hughes Mon, September 25, 2023 President Joe Biden (R) smiles with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown as Biden hosts the Pacific Islands Forum at the White House in Washington on Monday. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI
Sept. 25 (UPI) -- During the second annual Pacific Island Summit at the White House on Monday the United States for the first time recognized Niue and the Cook Islands as sovereign and independent states.
The summit, created to strengthen the U.S. engagement in the Far East amongst rising tensions with China and North Korea, also was attended by Australia and New Zealand and others.
U.S. President Joe Biden previously had pledged $810 million to support major industries and strengthen defense in the island nations where the United States has been seeking new security agreements.
"Niue plays a critical and constructive role in the Pacific, including supporting the region's sustainable development, security, and marine protection and ocean conservation," Biden said in a statement.
"Today's announcement will enable us to deepen our cooperation with Niue on these challenges and more -- from tackling the climate crisis to protecting maritime borders and marine resources to building sustainable economic growth to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region." Biden (C) sits with Brown (L) and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R). Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI
Biden said the United States has a long history of cooperation with the Cook Islands dating back to World War II, when the U.S. military built airport runways on the northernmost atoll Penrhyn and in Aitutaki.
"Today's announcement will enable us to expand the scope of this enduring partnership as we seek to tackle the challenges that matter most to our peoples' lives -- from countering illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, to combatting climate change, to building inclusive economic growth, to advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and beyond," Biden said. The two-day event is aimed at strengthening diplomatic relations in the Pacific Island countries to counter China's influence. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI
The Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare skipped the summit after attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week. Vanuatu Prime Minister Sato Kilman faced a no-confidence vote in the nation's parliament and did not attend.
Sogavare's absence that was especially notable after his country signed an agreement with China in July that laid the groundwork for their strategic cooperation on a range of security and law enforcement efforts. In recognizing the Cook Islands as a sovereign nation on Monday, President Joe Biden noted that the United States has a long history of cooperation with the islands dating back to World War II, when the U.S. military built airport runways on the northernmost atoll Penrhyn and in Aitutaki. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI
Instead, Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele attended in place of Sogavare, who said he had urgent government matters to attend to at home.
Administration officials said they were "disappointed" that Sogavare had "chosen not to come to this very special" two-day summit, while the other attendees got together Sunday for a Baltimore Ravens game, where they were recognized as "American friends in the Indo-Pacific."
Biden and the remaining leaders sat down with administration officials and lawmakers in Congress Monday to discuss the growing military threat posed by Beijing as well as North Korea's expanding nuclear program.
The president formed the bloc one year ago in response to China turning more aggressive toward its neighbors in the region while taking steps to expand communist influence far beyond its borders.
The summit served as "an opportunity for the president to strengthen ties with the Pacific Islands and discuss how we address complex global challenges like tackling the existential threat of climate change, advancing economic growth and promoting sustainable development," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a Sunday press briefing.
In his speech to the U.N. last week, Biden said the United States would not seek conflict with China but would "push back on aggression and intimidation" by America's biggest trading partner.
Biden viewed the summit as a way to strategically reengage with the entire Pacific region as Beijing, Moscow and Pyongyang have stiffened their alliance amid the war in Ukraine, the White House said.
"There's also no question that there is some role that the [China] has played in all this," administration officials said. "No question that its assertiveness and influence, including in this region, has been a factor that requires us to sustain our strategic focus."
"But what we're really focused on doing is showing our Pacific Island friends that the United States, working with like-minded partners, can provide viable alternatives that will work for Pacific island nation," they added.
The meeting comes on the heels of the Quad meeting on Saturday, in which the foreign ministers of the United States, Australia, India and Japan called for stronger security cooperation between Pacific nations in an effort to deter a potential weapons deal between Russia and North Korea.
