Four Pacific Islands leaders arrive in Vanuatu amid political crisis

Four Pacific Islands leaders arrived in Vanuatu on Tuesday to consider declaring a “neutral” position amid an intense contest between the United States and
China, against the backdrop of a political crisis in the host nation.
The leaders of Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji and New Caledonia’s ruling FLNKS party, members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), will meet for two days from Wednesday at the National Convention Centre, officials said.
Vanuatu Deputy Prime Minister Matai Seremaiah, speaking after a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday, said the leaders would consider declaring a “region of peace and neutrality”.
The five nations, strategically located in the South Pacific and pivotal during World War Two, are again at the centre of a geopolitical contest: Solomon Islands has a security pact with China, Papua New Guinea signed a defence cooperation deal with the United States, while Fiji last week co-hosted an
Indo-Pacific defence chiefs conference with the U.S., which China attended.