The Vivekananda International Foundation organised a virtual talk by Ms. Cleo Paskal, Non-Resident Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), Washington DC on "Geopolitical Relevance of the Pacific Islands for India and the Indo-Pacific Region" on March 15, 2023 (Wednesday). Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director, VIF, chaired the session and made welcome remarks. The talk was followed by Q& A and discussion. Lt. Gen. R.K. Sawhney (Retd.), Vice- Admiral Satish Soni (Retd.), Gp. Cap. Naval Jagota (Retd.), Dr. Udai Bhanu Singh and others participated in the event.

The talk highlighted how the Pacific Islands are becoming strategically very important within the Indo-Pacific region. Yet the major powers in the region including Australia, New Zealand have lagged behind to cater to the political and economic needs of these countries. China, on the other hand, has been expanding its influence in the region. The talk emphasised that Chinese political warfare in the Pacific Island countries such as Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Vanuatu, Federation of Micronesia, and Marshall Islands has begun creating internal politico-economic turmoil. These developments have security implications for the region especially with regard to Taiwan straits. Role of India in helping the regional countries was discussed in length during the deliberation.