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Self-governing Cook Islands and Niue have exchanged their freedom in political association with New Zealand for dominated status under the United States.
Beijing’s strategic dilemma is that to counter US containment, it needs a free hand in the South and East China seas and into the rest of the Pacific. But the more it pushes, the more it antagonises neighbouring countries.
Islands provide perfect example of ‘China threat’ for US and its allies as they then turn central and south Pacific into their sphere of influence.
- New prime minister Jeremiah Manele is expected to apply a ‘lighter touch’ to ties with Beijing given the demand for greater transparency
- The rivalry between the US and China remains a concern for the Solomons as Washington steps up engagement in the Pacific region
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Wellington do not want to see developments that ‘destabilise’ the region’s security.
Manele said reviving growth and establishing a special economic zone would be at the top of the new government’s agenda.
Solomon Islands incumbent PM Manasseh Sogavare said he would not be a candidate when lawmakers vote next week for a new prime minister, and his political party would instead back ex-Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele.
The Mobile Cooperation Team initiative was first set up in 2017 as part of Tokyo’s efforts to train and equip the coastguards of Southeast Asian nations that felt threatened by China’s presence.
Manasseh Sogavare’s Our Party has won 12 seats with six contests still in play, well short of a majority in the 50-seat parliament.
The US president last week raised the possibility that his uncle, whose plane was shot down over New Guinea in May 1944, might have been eaten by cannibals.
Malaita premier Martin Fini, who recently signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Jiangsu province, lost his re-election bid.
The 80-page document unveiled on Wednesday explicitly calls out ‘China’s coercive tactics in pursuit of its strategic objectives’. Australia’s optimistic assumptions for the post-Cold War era ‘are long gone’, the defence minister said.
Geopolitics looms large over the polls in Solomon Islands, where Beijing and Washington have been vying for influence for years. But for voters just struggling to make ends meet, Wednesday’s election may be decided by issues much closer to home.
A torrent of Chinese aid and investment has flowed into the Pacific nation during Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s five years at the helm. He seeks re-election this week.
The archipelago, one of the world’s least-developed countries, is the unlikely focal point of a diplomatic scramble pitting a rising China against Western rivals.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the need to work together on common challenges ‘more urgently and concertedly’.
China’s ambassador to New Zealand had called the use of ‘shiprider’ pacts between the US and Vanuatu, Kiribati and Papua New Guinea to ‘carry out law enforcement activities against China’s fishing vessels’ a violation of international law.
Congress hears plea for more funding, speed and capability to protect strategically vital American territory as PLA enhances its missile technology.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh told a campaign rally that democracy allows you to “do whatever you want”
Leaders in the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau had warned that delays could have forced their governments to cut services, and swayed public opinion towards offers of investment from China.
Daniel Kritenbrink, an assistant secretary of state, tells Senate hearing ‘we had known for some time [of Nauru’s concerns] … in this instance, they decided to flip’.
Talks on March 19 are expected to involve Japan’s Self-Defence Forces and police taking part in local and regional responses as well as training.
Deals for Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau, intended to counter China’s influence in the region, win passage as part of appropriations package.
A federal budget impasse has hindered funding for the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau as Beijing deepens ties in the strategically vital region.
The small South Pacific state says it will uphold its relationship with Taipei and look at options to make it more durable.
The comments from Australia’s Pacific Minister Pat Conroy come after a news report said that Chinese police will begin working on the island nation of Kiribati.
The issue of diplomatic recognition is up for debate in the island nation, one of only three remaining Pacific allies of Taiwan. The new prime minister’s position on the subject has not been made public.
Japan’s renewed focus on Pacific nations comes amid regional concern about Fukushima waste water discharge and as Chinese influence grows.
Kiribati’s acting police commissioner said Chinese officers were assisting their local counterparts on community policing and a crime database programme.
Analysts warn economic strife and cultural violence have been intensifying, threatening national stability
The lack of urgency is causing alarm inside the United States among those hyper-aware of the speed at which China may step in while Congress dawdles over a small sum of money by aid standards.
Police said it could be the highest death toll from such violence in the highlands, where there are few roads and most of the inhabitants are subsistence farmers.
