The current regional order in the Pacific Islands is composed of several layers, including traditional security frameworks led by the United States, Australia, and New Zealand; regional institutional frameworks involving former administering powers and Pacific Island countries; and frameworks established by Pacific Island countries themselves. In recent years, alternative frameworks under China’s South-South cooperation have also emerged. To enable Japan to engage more proactively in this regional order, this project has developed the FLOWERS meeting as a privately led platform for collaboration among industry, academia, and civil society, complementing the Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM), Japan’s regional policy framework that has been in place since 1997. By promoting substantive and candid dialogue through this platform, the SPF seeks to add greater depth and breadth to Japan–Pacific Island nation relations and to build a new layer of regional order centered on Japan, thereby contributing to the stability and prosperity of the region.

Hideyuki Shiozawa