At a gathering meant to affirm Pacific solidarity, Taiwan's quiet presence at the Pacific Islands Forum in Palau became a flashpoint in the slow, grinding contest for influence across the world's largest ocean. China's envoy warned of unspecified consequences, while Australia and New Zealand held firm that the forum speaks for itself — a small but telling moment in the longer story of how great powers negotiate the boundaries of belonging. The Pacific, long treated as a peripheral stage, is increasingly where the central questions of sovereignty, loyalty, and self-determination are being rehea