U.S. President Joe Biden, center poses with Federated States of Micronesia’s President David Panuelo, Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape at the White House on Sept. 29, 2022. © Reuters
Derek Grossman is a senior defense analyst at RAND and a professor at the University of Southern California. He formerly served as the daily intelligence briefer to the assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs at the U.S. Department of Defense.
On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last month in New York, U.S. President Joe Biden held a brief sit-down with the leaders of the Freely Associated States — comprising the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, and Palau. These three nations, through their recently renewed Compacts of Free Association with Washington, provide the U.S. military with near-exclusive access to their land, air, and seas within the Second Island Chain — critical advantageous positions in the North Pacific to win future wars.
