# Comicomment | Behind the empty seats: Who's stirring up geopolitical tensions?

https://mins.news/en/item/56382

- China News Service, 2026-09-12 05:43 UTC
- World
- Original: http://www.ecns.cn/cns-wire/comicomment/2026-09-13/detail-ihfkanuz5379504.shtml

> At least five government leaders were absent from the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Palau, including the prime ministers of Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa and the Solomon Islands and the president of Kiribati. The commentary says geopolitical rivalry is making consensus harder and warns the forum must not let security narratives eclipse climate threats, intensifying hurricanes and depleted fishing grounds, or become a stage for major-power bloc politics.