Island and coastal nations delivered a unified warning at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on 26 September 2026, urging major powers to stop transforming the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean into arenas of military confrontation. Leaders from the Maldives, Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Bahamas collectively insisted that strategic competition must not compel smaller states to choose between rival blocs.

Indian Ocean: A Clear Message from the Maldives

Maldives Vice-President Hussain Mohamed Latheef delivered what many observers considered the sharpest Indian Ocean statement of the session. “The Indian Ocean must remain peaceful,” he said, adding that the region must allow trade to flow and states to prosper. Competition among major powers, he stressed, must not limit the foreign policy choices of smaller countries.

The Maldives sits at a critical maritime crossroads, with both India and China actively courting Malé in recent years. Latheef’s remarks reflect a growing tension between accepting development partnerships and preserving strategic autonomy.

Pacific Leaders Invoke the Ocean of Peace Declaration

Fijian President Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu reminded the General Assembly that the Pacific carried memories of decisions made elsewhere but suffered by its people. “Our ocean must not become a theatre in which others settle their rivalries,” he said, while welcoming genuine friendship, investment and cooperation.

Tongan Prime Minister Lord Fakafanua pointed to the region’s Ocean of Peace declaration as carrying an unambiguous signal. “The Pacific must not become a staging ground for military escalation or a battleground for major power rivalry,” he said. Tonga further clarified that the declaration extended beyond conflict prevention to include regional action against transnational crime, illegal fishing, cyberthreats, and the lingering consequences of nuclear testing and radioactive contamination.

Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. objected to the framing of the Pacific as vacant strategic space. “Our region must never be treated as an empty expanse for strategic competition or tests of military power,” he said, noting that the ocean was home to communities, cultures, fisheries and ecosystems fundamental to regional security.

Small States as Prizes, Not Partners

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Cooper Wale described the mounting pressure on smaller governments as international divisions sharpened. “Neighbours are asked to choose sides. Small States are too often treated as prizes to be won rather than partners to be heard,” he said.

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine argued that geopolitical discourse was skewed toward superpower preferences, overlooking nations caught between competing spheres of influence. She warned that distant power struggles were amplified in small, remote economies already struggling with rising fuel and energy costs.

Caribbean Echo: No More Backyards

Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis extended the sentiment to the Caribbean, saying island nations recognised the renewed language of spheres of influence and hemispheric dominance. “We did not win our freedom to once again become somebody’s backyard,” Davis said, in remarks that drew resonance across delegations from the Global South.

What Major Powers Said

The statements did not constitute a blanket rejection of engagement with larger economies. Leaders consistently distinguished between genuine cooperation and coercive pressure. Australia sought to position itself as a bridge partner, saying its Indo-Pacific partnerships were designed to build sovereign capacity and offer countries freedom of choice without coercion. Canberra said it would work with both the United States and China while supporting a regional order in which no single country dominated another.

The Indian and Pacific oceans together carry some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and intensifying competition involving China, the US and their respective partners has raised the strategic premium on island states, ports and maritime infrastructure across both regions. With UNGA’s general debate now on record, the question is whether this collective voice translates into a formal multilateral framework or remains a moral appeal without binding weight.