With the U.S. fiscal year approaching an end and no new funding plan in place, multiple tiny island nations in the Indo-Pacific risk being cut off from Washington’s economic support just as China is trying to woo them away from their military alliance with the U.S.
Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, known collectively as the Freely Associated States, risk falling between several U.S. policy cracks in coming weeks and months despite bipartisan support in Congress to renew the Compacts of Free Association (COFA) that govern their relations with the U.S. The worry is that the longer the uncertainly lasts, the more attracted the islands’ populations will be to approaches from China.
Micronesia and the Marshall Islands will see their economic aid expire at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 if Congress doesn’t enact a continuing resolution. Even if lawmakers can agree on a continuing resolution, there’s no certainty that they would include the aid, opting instead to wait for full appropriations bills or a package that also reauthorizes the nations’ updated COFA.
