In Palau, the Pacific Islands Forum convened without Kiribati's president — a deliberate absence that speaks louder than any speech. What was designed as a sanctuary for frank leadership dialogue has become a theater for great power rivalry, with China's influence and Taiwan's presence pulling an 18-member body in directions its founders never imagined. The forum, meant to center the Pacific's own existential concerns — climate, survival, sovereignty — now risks becoming a proxy stage for a geopolitical contest waged by forces far beyond the ocean's horizon.