The Biden administration has been urged by more than 100 arms-control, environmental, and other activist groups to formally apologise to the Marshall Islands for the effects of extensive nuclear testing there in the 1940s and 1950s and to offer just compensation.
The call was made by the activists in a letter to President Joe Biden dated December 5 and signed by Greenpeace, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Marshallese Education Initiative. The activists were led by the Arms Control Association. Reuters received access to the text.
In ongoing talks with the Marshall Islands about renewing a Compact of Free Association (COFA), which has served as the cornerstone of relations with the Pacific territory since the 1980s, it urged Washington to keep its word regarding nuclear justice.
The Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands’ COFA provisions will expire in 2023; Palau’s COFA provisions will expire in 2024.
Although the island countries still have strong ties to Washington, analysts warn that if new terms for economic aid cannot be reached, they may turn to China, a strategic rival of the United States, for funding or increased trade and tourism.
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