Pacific Island leaders warn US failure to pass funding bill opens door to China

Leaders of Pacific Island countries allied with the US have become increasingly anxious about the US congressional budget impasse that has delayed approval of vital new funding packages and warned that China is actively seeking to shift their allegiances. The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Marshall Islands (RMI) and Palau agreed to new 20-year funding programs with the United States last year under which Washington provides economic assistance, while gaining exclusive military access to strategic swaths of the Pacific. But despite bipartisan support for the new programs, known as Compacts of Free Association (COFA), the funding is yet to…