Category Archives: Pacific islands

China’s foreign minister tells Pacific leaders ‘don’t be too anxious’ after they reject regional security pact

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Wang Yi says ‘going forward we will continue to have ongoing and in-depth discussions … to shape more consensus’

Pacific countries have declined to sign up to a sweeping regional economic and security deal proposed by China, after a crucial meeting of Pacific foreign ministers and their Chinese counterpart on Monday.

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi is in the middle of a marathon tour of the region, visiting eight countries in 10 days, a trip that security experts have said represents a dramatic “uptick in tempo” of China’s push for influence in the region.

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Pacific nations ‘very positive’ on re-engagement, PM says – as it happened

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Bushmaster reportedly destroyed in fighting in Ukraine; nation records 30 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Finance minister Katy Gallagher is speaking now to ABC Insiders host David Speers. She says Labor faces “a very serious set of economic and budget challenges, and we don’t want to pretend it is anything but that”.

Q: Are you saying that the figures that were produced showing deficits totalling $224bn over the next four years – were they accurate or not?

Well, they are certainly the numbers that the finance department and the Treasury signed off on in the election campaign, but I think the point we are making is that there is a range of spending that we are having a look at in the budget and there is also clearly some huge budget pressures coming.

I guess in those areas – health, aged care, the NDIS, defence, national security – where there are all of them growing faster than GDP and going to play significant pressure on the budget going forward …

I haven’t had many moments to reflect, I’ve got to say ... it’s been a busy time. But I do understand the great responsibility that I have – I’m humbled by it. It says a lot about our great country that the son of a single mum, who was an invalid pensioner living in council housing, can rise to lead the country as prime minister and I’ll never take it for granted. I’ll honour it every day and I’ll do my best. That’s not to say I’ll be perfect, because none of us are, but I’ll try to keep it real on the way through and continue to keep my feet on the ground, because I think that is really important as well.

Australians are generous people and I think that they’ll give us a go. I get the sense out there that they want us to succeed. And I had people who didn’t vote for us as well, who said to me, we really want you to succeed for the sake of the country. So we’ll do our best.

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Samoa signs China bilateral agreement during Pacific push by Beijing

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Scant details released apart from promises of infrastructure support, amid western concerns that China is seeking to expand its security presence in region

Samoa signed a bilateral agreement with China on Saturday, promising “greater collaboration”, as Beijing’s foreign minister continues a tour of the Pacific that has sparked concern among western allies.

The deal’s details are unclear, and come midway through a Chinese delegation’s eight-nation trip – but an earlier leaked draft agreement sent to several Pacific countries outlined plans to expand security and economic engagement.

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Penny Wong urges Pacific nations to weigh up ‘consequences’ of China security offers

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Australia wants to show region it is a reliable partner, says foreign minister, and to make up for a ‘lost decade on climate action’

Australia’s foreign affairs minister has used a visit to Fiji to urge Pacific countries to weigh up the “consequences” of accepting security offers from Beijing, saying the region should determine its own security.

Speaking on the second day of her trip, Penny Wong said Australia wanted to show it was a reliable and trustworthy partner, and was also “determined to make up for” what she described as “a lost decade on climate action”.

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New Zealand and allies allowed ‘vacuum’ to develop in Pacific, former foreign minister says

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Comments by Winston Peters come as China hopes 10 Pacific countries will sign wide-ranging security deal

New Zealand and its allies have failed to listen to “alarm bells” about China’s growing influence, and allowed a “vacuum” to develop in the Pacific, New Zealand’s former foreign minister Winston Peters has said.

His comments come amid news that China hopes 10 Pacific countries will sign a wide-ranging draft deal covering security, trade and investment. The agreement would dramatically increase China’s influence in the region.

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Penny Wong tells Pacific nations ‘we have heard you’ as Australia and China battle for influence

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Foreign minister uses speech in Fiji to declare ‘this is a different Australian government’ that will act responsibly on climate change

The new foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has promised to treat Pacific island countries with respect, telling an audience in Fiji that Australia is “a partner that doesn’t come with strings attached” and won’t “impose unsustainable financial burdens”.

Wong promised to respect Pacific priorities and institutions as she set out an implicit contrast with China, which is pursuing a sweeping regional economic and security deal with Pacific nations that would dramatically expand Beijing’s influence and reach into those countries.

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Deal proposed by China would dramatically expand security influence in Pacific

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Leaked copy of draft shows Beijing wants more involvement in policing, cybersecurity and marine mapping

China is pursuing a sweeping regional economic security deal with Pacific nations that would dramatically expand its influence and reach into those countries, in a pact that has western countries and some Pacific leaders deeply worried.

The wide-ranging deal lays out China’s vision for a much closer relationship with the Pacific, especially on security matters, with China proposing it would be involved in training police, cybersecurity, sensitive marine mapping and gaining greater access to natural resources.

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Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand ‘ready to respond’ to Pacific’s security needs as China seeks deal in region

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Prime minister says ‘the Pacific is our home’ as Beijing plans a regional security pact with almost a dozen island nations

Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand is “ready to respond” to security needs in the Pacific, after it emerged China is planning a Pacific-wide security deal with almost a dozen island nations.

The prime minister, who is touring the US, said she believed the Pacific could meet its security needs internally, implying it should do so without intervention from China or elsewhere. “On anything related to security arrangements, we are very strongly of the view that we have within the Pacific the means and ability to respond to any security challenges that exist and New Zealand is willing to do that,” Ardern said.

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China’s Pacific plan is ‘clear’ but so is Australia’s intention to be regional partner of choice, Penny Wong says

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As China pursues Pacific-wide security pact, foreign minister says ‘after a lost decade we’ve got a lot of work to do to regain Australia’s position’

Australia has responded to reports that China is pursuing a Pacific-wide security pact with almost a dozen nations, stating that while Beijing’s intentions were clear “so too are the intentions of the new Australian government” to be the partner of choice in the region.

China will seek a regional deal with 10 Pacific island nations covering policing, security and data communications cooperation when the foreign minister, Wang Yi, hosts a meeting in Fiji next week, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

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Solomon Islands journalists shut out of China foreign minister visit, raising secrecy concerns

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Wang Yi will visit eight countries in 10 days, but media access to his diplomatic push has been severely restricted

Pacific journalists have raised serious concerns about secrecy surrounding the upcoming marathon tour of the Pacific by China’s foreign minister, who will be visiting eight countries in 10 days.

Wang Yi will visit Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Fiji between 26 May and 4 June, on a tour of the region that has been labelled “extraordinary and unprecedented” by Pacific experts.

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Australia to stand with Pacific islands on climate crisis and ‘respect’ region, Penny Wong says

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New foreign affairs minister tells Pacific leaders Australia ‘will listen because we care’ after reports China may be seeking security agreement with Kiribati

Australia’s new foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will seek to improve relations with Pacific island countries, flagging an early visit to the region and promising to be “a generous, respectful and reliable” partner.

China’s new security deal with Solomon Islands was a point of political dispute during the Australian election campaign and there are now reports that Beijing could be planning to strike a similar agreement with Kiribati.

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Cabinet committee blocked plan to double Australia’s support to Pacific, election-eve leak reveals

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‘Extraordinary’ revelation about national security decision shows the government is ‘falling apart’, Labor says

The Morrison government has been hit by an election-eve leak that cabinet’s national security committee blocked a proposal by the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, to double Australia’s support to the Pacific.

Labor said the “extraordinary” pre-election leak, first reported by the Australian newspaper, showed the government was “falling apart”, while Scott Morrison insisted the committee was “extremely tight”.

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Video showing arrest of Fiji bus driver reignites debate about police use of excessive force

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The incident was witnessed by a Fijian MP who said she intervened telling the police officer ‘You can deal with this without violence’

Fiji police have suspended an officer pending an investigation after a video showing what appeared to be the use of excessive force against a bus driver during an arrest was shared widely in the Pacific country.

The video appears to show a police officer attempting to remove a handcuffed bus driver from his bus in Labasa on Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second largest island on Monday.

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Former Kiribati president slams Australia’s ‘politicisation’ of climate action and power of fossil fuel lobby

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Five days before Australian election, Anote Tong urges leaders to understand climate crisis means ‘survival is on the line’ for Pacific islands

A former president of the Pacific nation of Kiribati has blasted the influence of the fossil fuel lobby in Australia and the “politicisation” of climate policy, issuing a plea for leaders to adopt a “more moral” stance to cut emissions.

In a forthright speech five days before the Australian election, Anote Tong called for a proper understanding of what the climate crisis means to countries like Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, saying “our survival is on the line”.

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Vanuatu’s push for legal protection from climate change wins crucial support

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1,500 civil society groups from 130 countries back Vanuatu’s move to seek protection from the international court of justice

Vanuatu’s push for the international court of justice to protect vulnerable nations from climate change has received the backing of 1,500 civil society organisations from more than 130 countries, as it heads toward a crucial vote at the UN General Assembly later this year.

In 2021 Vanuatu announced its intention to seek an advisory opinion by the international court of justice on the rights of present and future generations to be protected from climate change.

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New Zealand foreign minister blames ‘relationship failure’ for China-Solomons security deal

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Nanaia Mahuta confirms ‘unwelcome and unnecessary’ deal came as a surprise to New Zealand and Australia, saying the Solomons must provide transparency

The shock over China’s security deal with Solomon Islands is evidence of “a relationship failure” , New Zealand’s foreign affairs minister has said, confirming that the pact took New Zealand, Australia and other Pacific nations completely by surprise.

The deal marks Beijing’s first known bilateral security agreement in the Pacific. The text of the final deal is secret, but a draft leaked on social media in March granted Chinese military and police significant access to the country, allowing China to “make ship visits to, carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands”.

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Scott Morrison has not spoken to Solomon Islands prime minister since calling election

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Australian PM insists he wants positive relationship, while Manasseh Sogavare says use of ‘back yard’ to describe country is offensive

Scott Morrison has not spoken with the prime minister of Solomon Islands since the Australian election campaign began but insists he wants to put the countries’ relationship back on a positive footing.

The Australian prime minister made the remarks on Wednesday, a day after his Pacific island counterpart Manasseh Sogavare launched a thinly veiled criticism of some politicians’ language about Solomon Islands in the wake of the controversial security agreement with China.

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Fiji court rules US can seize yacht said to belong to Russian oligarch

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Vessel docked in port of Lautoka is believed to be owned by Suleiman Kerimov, who is facing sanctions

Fiji’s high court has ruled that the US government can seize a superyacht believed to be owned by a Russian oligarch who faces sanctions from the US and the EU, which is docked in the Fijian port of Lautoka.

Judge Deepthi Amaratunga granted the request from Fijian authorities to register and enforce US warrants to seize the Amadea, which has been docked in Lautoka since 13 April and which is believed to belong to Suleiman Kerimov, who is considered a close ally of Vladimir Putin.

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Solomon Islands PM suggests Australia’s reaction to China security deal is hysterical and hypocritical

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Manasseh Sogavare says he wasn’t told about Aukus pact until it was public while Scott Morrison accuses counterpart of parroting China’s lines

The prime minister of Solomon Islands has accused the Australian government of hypocrisy over his country’s security deal with China, saying the Aukus pact was far from transparent but he “did not become theatrical and hysterical”.

Manasseh Sogavare said Solomon Islands and other countries in the region “should have been consulted to ensure that this Aukus treaty is transparent since it will affect the Pacific family by allowing nuclear submarines in Pacific waters”.

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Climate crisis – not China – is biggest threat to Pacific, say former leaders

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Pacific Elders Voice group says military tension ‘created by China and the US and its allies’ are secondary to rising seas and catastrophic cyclones

Growing military tensions in the Pacific between China, the US and Australia do not address the most significant security threat to the region – climate change – former leaders of Pacific nations have warned.

In a statement on Friday, the Pacific Elders Voice group, which includes former leaders of the Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati and Tuvalu, as well as Dame Meg Taylor, the former secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum secretariat, said that “the primary security threat to the Pacific is climate change”, rather than geo-strategic tensions.

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