The prime minister is brushing off threats to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)’s authority, talking up his confidence in turning the grouping into a centralising force for the region.
Christopher Luxon denies the forum’s clout is weakened by five leaders’ absence; by its inability to reach consensus on condemning China’s recent ballistic missile test; or by a series of recent bilateral deals between Australia and Pacific neighbours.
He said a deal with the United States to build a port in the Cook Islands is not sending a message to Beijing, and is optimistic the forum could emulate and pair up with the ASEAN grouping in Southeast Asia.
It also comes ahead of an expected regional security announcement.
Departing Wednesday morning, Luxon is set to spend just under 36 hours on the ground in Palau for the Forum’s leaders’ meeting, where Foreign Minister Winston Peters has been since Sunday.
With New Zealand set to host the forum next year, he told reporters the trip was about elevating the forum.
“We get Pacific solutions to Pacific challenges … the model in my head is very strongly around ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations], where I see ASEAN centrality speaking for Southeast Asia.
“PIF really is the body that should be the central way in which development partners come in and out through the PIF door and gate”.
The official PIF Foreign Leaders’ Meeting group photo in Fiji on 7 August 2026.
Supplied / Alvaro Hoyos Ramos
New Zealand, Australia, and two Pacific Island nations – Marshall Islands and Palau, which both recognise Taiwan – last month were among dozens of countries that signed a joint statement by the US condemning China’s ballistic missile test in early July.
But that came just days after a PIF Foreign Ministers meeting in Suva was unable to reach agreement on a similar statement despite the majority of members pushing for one.
Luxon denied that showed PIF being weakened as a mechanism for resolving region-wide difficulties.
“No, I think it’s about strengthening it, though,” Luxon said.
“We just want to see it go from strength to strength each and every year … we just want perpetual, continual improvement and strengthening and deepening of PIF being the central organisation by which we deal with Pacific issues and challenges.”
His comments echoed a position laid out on Sunday by Peters, who said it would be “defying gravity and logic if you said it wasn’t a big problem”, but that the “centrality of the Pacific Islands Forum is not going to be compromised because of this”.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters in Palau for the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting.
Pacific Islands Forum
He acknowledged the window for such a statement to have an impact had passed.
“The impact really is in the moment, and that’s why you saw New Zealand make a very strong statement … it’ll be something we’ll discuss in the leaders’ retreat I’m sure, but again really what we’re trying to do is make sure that we build more experience of working together, more unity,” he said.
“At the time … there was a number of leaders came out with strong statements. Yes, it would be ideal if PIF had a statement that could come together but frankly individual leaders have made those statements at that time, which I thought was important.”
He said he would be open to a broader statement against testing in the Pacific but “I just wouldn’t conflate those two issues … we’ll see what emerges”.
Luxon also disagreed bilateral deals like the recent defence pact agreed between Australia and Fiji could undermine his centrality goals, saying “the reality is you can have strong bilateral relationships and also be part of multilateral forum as well”.
His arrival in Koror – Palau’s largest city and home to about 12,600 people, half the country’s population – follows an announcement on Tuesday by Peters, Cook Islands PM Mark Brown and US Deputy State Secretary Christopher Landau of co-funding for a new “lifeline” port for the Cooks’ Penrhyn atoll.
The US would provide US$50 million (NZ$84.8m) and New Zealand US$10m (NZ$17m) for the port, building on the Critical Minerals Framework the Cooks signed with the US in February.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown together in Palau announce a new upgrade of the port on Penrhyn atoll in the Cooks.
RNZ / Teuila Fuatai
China on Monday sent a travel warning urging Chinese citizens to “exercise caution” in travelling to Palau that was quickly denounced by the US and Taiwan as an attempt to undermine.
Luxon denied the port deal was about sending a message to Beijing.
“No, no, I think it’s just genuinely about the fact that you know we want to upgrade … to advance that country as it moves from … low income to mid income to ultimately to high income countries.”
Peters, speaking to Morning Report, also dismissed the notion it could be a message to China, instead saying he was “delighted” the US had stepped up “big time” in the last few days.
Peters has long been an advocate for greater US presence in the Pacific, having made a speech on the issue in 2018, and referring to his meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington DC last year, the signed agreement announced on Tuesday was “seriously what we were hoping for” in that meeting.
In terms of managing China’s reaction to the deal, Peters said the forum was18 countries, and “we are having a discussion amongst ourselves, and we do not prefer or like outsiders to tell us what to do”.
Luxon suggested the deal could be a model for how countries might continue to use New Zealand as a conduit or mediator for foreign investment in the Pacific, including from the likes of Japan, South Korea and India.
“They all want to be engaged in the Pacific in some form or another, and often the easiest way to actually make sure any investment has an impact is actually to focus the management of that project and all those funds as well.
“We can be good custodians and good stewards of that money, and work with our partner – in this case, the Cook Islands – where the two of us know what needs to be achieved.”
The Ocean Partnership Roundtable in Koror, Palau, on 30 August 2026.
Ohanna Rabo Galo/TMC Palau
He brushed off, too, suggestions the absence of five – possibly six – member nations’ leaders from the forum could pose a threat to the centrality he wanted for the forum, though the impact on showing regional unity is undeniable.
“The reality is … [those absences are a] sideshow … when you’re in the bilaterals, when you’re around the table, a lot of the conversation is about the 18 countries and the Pacific Island Forum, not about the dialogue partners that may be sitting outside it or partnering with it,” Luxon said.
While the meeting itself was important, the “relationships that happen in any given part through any year is also important”, Luxon said.
Peters, speaking to Morning Report, also brushed off the absences, saying the meeting had been the “highest level Pacific Islands Forum conference ever”.
Luxon also told reporters a suggestion from the Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr the date for the main annual PIF leaders’ meeting could be fixed on a specific date in future to help with scheduling and support attendance.
“Yeah it’s not a bad idea, I hadn’t thought about that … I think there’s some value in that,” he said.
He also talked up the possibility of a future connection with the ASEAN forum.
“Singapore is also hosting ASEAN next year and [we’re] very close to Prime Minister [Lawrence] Wong … he and I have both talked about already that there’s an opportunity for the two subregions to have some sort of connectivity … to make a connectivity between the two, which I think would be in the benefit of everyone in the Pacific to have stronger connection to ASEAN and vice versa.”
