President of the Marshall Islands meets US military leaders, honored by East-West Center

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands had a busy five-day trip to Hawaii, where he received an East-West Center award and met with leaders of the Indo-Pacific Command.

On Thursday, President Hilda Heine met with INDOPACOM Commander Admiral Sam Paparo and other top officials, expressing concern that delays in U.S. funding to Compact of Free Association (COFA) countries could help China expand its influence in strengthen the Pacific Ocean.

USINDOPACOM said in a press release that the two leaders “discussed the security environment, environmental issues and mutual defense priorities, reflecting the strong and historic cooperation between RMI and the US”

It added that “USINDOPACOM is committed to enhancing stability in the Indo-Pacific region with its allies and partners by promoting security cooperation, encouraging peaceful development, responding to contingencies, deterring aggression and, if necessary to fight to win. This approach is based on partnership, presence and military preparedness.”

On Friday at the East-West Center, Heine was honored with the “Women of Impact” award, which honors women leaders who are making a difference in government and society and advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Heine is the first woman to lead an independent Pacific island nation in modern times and is a fierce advocate for education, COFA migrants and combating climate change.

“The Marshall Islands lead the way at just 2 meters above sea level. But this is also a crisis in the Pacific. It is indeed a global crisis,” Heine said upon receiving her award. “Climate change is the greatest threat to our survival and to the survival of our cultures, our cultures that are deeply rooted and embedded in our land.”

“Our cultures have survived so many different catastrophes, from multiple legacies of colonialism to World War I battlefields and ultimately the legacy of nuclear testing that has poisoned and threatened our oceans,” she added. “However, we are survivors and I know that we in the Pacific can survive this too. If there is anything my career has taught me, it is that a positive impact can only be made by building community and building bridges.”

“There is a Western saying that no man is an island, an interesting concept that our island cultures have known for thousands of years, a concept that my mother and father also taught me. We are only as strong as our communities, our kinship with each other as the Pacific Islanders,” Heine said.

EWC center chair Suzy Vares-Lum said much can be learned from President Heine’s example.

“That anything is possible and that if you focus on what you are passionate about, you are focused on helping others, you believe that one person can make a difference in the lives of others, that it is possible. And she shows us that grit, resilience, passion, dedication, empathy and caring,” she said.

Governor Josh Green said he is working with Heine and other Marshallese leaders to address the needs of COFA migrants living in Hawaii and prepare for an increase in climate change refugees.

“If sea levels rise even modestly, the nation will disappear. We’re preparing to have more housing available, we’re preparing to make sure the right jobs are available. We need to be done with our schools,” Green said. “And all of this is confirmed by visits like this from the president and that is just very useful and progressive.”

“We are still talking about the full impact of climate change, decades later. But every year it gets a little worse and if storms eventually overtake the island chain, that’s a whole other risk that will accelerate migration to Hawaii and the continental United States, so this is all extremely important.”

“There are a lot of cultural differences,” Green added. “There’s a lot of poverty and it had an outsized impact on those communities, you know, the migration into one area. And so we have to do it in a way that everyone in our state helps a little.”

Heine also visited Ka’u High and Pahala elementary schools on Hawaii Island, where 20% of the students are Marshallese.