Six months on, key measures languish in Pacific Islands pact with US

FILE - Marshall Islands Foreign Affairs Minister Jack Ading, Palau President Surangel Whipps, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Micronesian President Wesley Simina meet in Washington on Sept. 26, 2023. A March 2024 pact among the four nations awaits full implementation.

More than six months after a crucial security deal between Washington and some Pacific Island nations was signed into law, key features of the Compacts of Free Association have not been implemented, raising questions in the region about U.S. commitment to its Pacific partners in the face of an increasingly assertive Beijing.