The president of the island nation of Nauru recently made a five-day visit to Oahu to meet with U.S. officials.

A Wednesday news release from U.S. Coast Guard District 14 said President Russ Joseph Kun and his delegation visited U.S. Indo- Pacific Command, met with Coast Guard officials and met with members of the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Waikiki.

“Our relationships with our partner nations like Nauru are more important than ever in the effort to maintain maritime sovereignty and security throughout the region,” Rear Adm. Michael Day, commander of Coast Guard District 14, said in the news release. “We look forward to our continued partnership with the governments and people in the Pacific. We stand always ready to support each country’s autonomy and the advancement of their interests.”

According to the news release, the Coast Guard gave Kun a tour of its vessel, the CGC William Hart, and discussed the possibility of cross-training Nauru’s patrol boats with the U.S. Coast Guard to expand search-and-rescue operations. In a meeting with Day, Kun also discussed illegal fishing and “shiprider” agreements between the two countries.

Shiprider agreements allow officials from countries around the region to ride and to conduct operations aboard U.S. Coast Guard cutters and use their crews to assist in operations like fishery enforcement. For island countries that might lack navies or coast guards of their own, actually enforcing regulations or even patrolling their own waters can be a challenge.

Fishing licenses are a major source of income for island countries, but fishing operations without a license or that go above their catch limit threatened ecosystems and fish stocks that the islands depend on.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing — or IUU, as maritime professionals and policymakers call it — is rampant at sea. Some studies estimate that 1 in every 5 fish caught around the world is caught illegally. Almost 90% of global fisheries are now considered depleted. In 2020 the Coast Guard said illegal fishing had eclipsed high-seas piracy as the greatest global security threat at sea.

Kun’s visits with U.S. military officials in Hawaii also come as America and its allies compete with China for influence in the Pacific. Nauru is one of a handful of countries to maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than China. Beijing considers Taiwan, a self-ruled island democracy, to be a rogue province, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping has vowed to bring it under China’s control by any means necessary.

Nauru will take on the top diplomatic post of the Pacific Islands Forum — an 18-member regional bloc representing Pacific Island nations — in 2024 from the Cook Islands with Nauru’s former President Baron Waqa slated to take on the role of secretary general in 2024. Four of Taiwan’s remaining 14 diplomatic allies are forum members.

In 2019, China successfully persuaded the Solomon Islands and Kiribati to cut ties with Taiwan. But in 2022 China tried to strike an ambitious trade and security deal with the 10 forum members that hold diplomatic ties with Beijing that ultimately collapsed. When the Pacific Islands Forum met in February, its leaders agreed to consider establishing a special envoy’s office in the U.S., which has said it plans to triple aid to Pacific island nations.