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☆ Fiji PM: China likely to collaborate on key port, shipyard project
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Lincoln Feast/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSYDNEY, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka told parliament on Wednesday the Pacific Islands nation was likely to collaborate with China on a key port modernisation and shipyard project, after discussing it in a meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping. Fiji previously sought Australia's involvement to build a modern ship-building facility at Lautoka, officials and a consultant to Rabuka on the project told Reuters. Rabuka told Fiji's parliament on Wednesday his government was focused on upgrading infrastructure, "particularly the modernisation of port facilities and shipyards". An Australian-based ship design company said Rabuka had earlier sought the involvement of Australia, Fiji's largest aid donor, in the shipyard project. China has been pushing for greater security and trade ties with Pacific Islands countries.

Persons: Sitiveni Rabuka, Xi Jinping, Rabuka, Xi, Stuart Ballantyne, Ballantyne, Vajira Piyasena, Kirsty Needham, Lincoln, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: REUTERS, Lincoln, Rights, Fiji Prime, Wednesday, Reuters, APEC, Wednesday Fiji, Fiji Ports, Fiji Ships, Heavy Industry, Pacific, Thomson Locations: Fiji, Suva, China, Lautoka, Australia, San Francisco, Australian, tradespeople, Pacific, Solomon Islands, United States, Papua New Guinea

☆ China Hopes Fiji Will Continue 'Firm' Support for Chinese Issues - Chinese State Media
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Nov. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said it hopes Fiji will continue to give 'firm' support to it on issues concerning Chinese core interests and major concerns, Chinese state media cited President Xi Jinping as saying to Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. Xi told Rabuka that China will continue to support Fiji in safeguarding its national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, Chinese state television said. China supports Fiji in independently choosing its own development path and achieving national development and revitalisation, Xi said. China is also willing to increase Fijian imports, support commercial investments into Fiji and encourage more tourists to visit Fiji. China has been pushing for greater security and trade ties with Pacific Islands countries, signing in July a policing pact with Solomon Islands and raising alarm for the United States.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Sitiveni Rabuka, Xi, Rabuka, Liz Lee, Christopher Cushing, Stephen Coates Organizations: Fijian, Economic Cooperation, Fiji, Pacific Locations: BEIJING, China, Fiji, Asia, San Francisco, Pacific, Solomon Islands, United States, Beijing

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping, fresh off his meeting with President Joe Biden, courted Indo-Pacific leaders in a flurry of meetings Thursday at a time of intensifying competition with the United States. Xi held individual talks with the leaders of Mexico, Peru, Fiji, Japan and Brunei, all on the sidelines of a summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation economies. In a meeting with Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, Xi said the two countries should strengthen economic and trade cooperation and pledged China’s support for Peru as host of next year’s summit of APEC leaders. Earlier, Xi held talks with Andrés Manuel López Obrador, praising the Mexican president for his leadership and reform efforts and pledging to bring the China-Mexico relationship to a new level. Xi called Hassanal Bolkiah, Brunei’s sultan, an “old friend” and said China would work with Brunei to bring benefits to both people.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Joe Biden, Xi, Dina Boluarte, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, López Obrador, —, Hurricane Otis, “, ” Xi, Sitiveni Rabuka, ”, Fumio Kishida, Kishida, Biden Organizations: FRANCISCO, Economic Cooperation, APEC, U.S, Fiji's, Japanese Locations: United States, Mexico, Peru, Fiji, Japan, Brunei, Asia, China, American, Latin America, Beijing, Brunei’s

☆ Pacific Islands leaders confirm former Nauru president as next top official
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nauru President Baron Divavesi Waqa addresses the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 26, 2018. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSYDNEY, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The Pacific Islands Forum confirmed the selection of former Nauru President Baron Waqa as the 18-member bloc's next top official at a meeting on Friday in the Cook Islands. Current Nauru President David Adeang had abruptly left the annual leaders meeting a day earlier after objections were raised by at least one Pacific Islands leader over Waqa's nomination. Adeang did not travel with the other leaders to the island of Aitutaki, where meetings resumed on Friday. "I inherited a fractured Pacific forum.

Persons: Baron Divavesi Waqa, Eduardo Munoz, Baron Waqa, bloc's, David Adeang, Adeang, Waqa, Sitiveni Rabuka, Henry Puna, Kirsty Needham, Tom Hogue Organizations: United Nations General Assembly, REUTERS, Rights, Pacific Islands Forum, Nauru, Fiji, Thomson Locations: Nauru, U.N, New York, U.S, Cook, Aitutaki, Taiwan, China, Micronesia, Polynesia, Melanesia

☆ Fiji and Australia boost cyber security cooperation
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Prime Minister of Fiji Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka addresses the 78th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 22, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSYDNEY, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Fiji and Australia will cooperate on cyber security, with Australia also boosting aid to its Pacific Islands neighbour under an enhanced partnership, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said after meeting his Fijian counterpart on Wednesday. Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, on his first three-day official visit to Australia since becoming leader in December, said the relationship with Australia was warm. Under Rabuka's government, Fiji has put a decade-old policing agreement with China on hold, and sought to increase defence ties with Australia. Albanese said Australia had agreed to provide more budget support to Fiji "to help economic recovery and to boost growth", and would sell it 14 Bushmaster protected vehicles to support the Fiji military's peacekeeping operations around the world.

Persons: Mike Segar, Anthony Albanese, Sitiveni Rabuka, Rabuka, Albanese, Kirsty Needham, Lincoln Organizations: United Nations General Assembly, REUTERS, Rights, Australian, Fijian, Fiji, Australia, Lowy Institute, Pacific, Fiji military's, Thomson Locations: Fiji, U.N, New York City , New York, U.S, Australia, China, Canberra, United States

☆ Pacific Islands divided over Fukushima water release, says Cook Islands PM
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) chair and Prime Minister of Cook Islands, Mark Stephen Brown, speaks during the Korea-Pacific Islands Summit at the former presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, May 29, 2023. Ahn Young-joon/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSYDNEY, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, chairman of the Pacific Islands bloc, said that science supported Japan's decision to pump treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, but that the region may not agree on the "complex" issue. Not all Pacific leaders had the same position and the Pacific Islands Forum may not reach a collective position, he said. The United States conducted nuclear tests in the Pacific Islands in the 1940s and 1950s, and France between 1966 and 1996. A Pacific Nuclear Free Zone was established in 1985 under a treaty that prevents the dumping of radioactive materials.

Persons: Mark Stephen Brown, Ahn Young, Mark Brown, Brown, Sitiveni Rabuka, Kirsty Needham, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Islands, Pacific Islands, presidential Blue House, Rights, Cook Islands, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Pacific, United, Fijian, Melanesian Spearhead Group, Thomson Locations: Cook Islands, Korea, Seoul, South Korea, Japan, China, Cook, United States, France, Pacific, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands

☆ Japan to release Fukushima water into ocean starting Aug 24
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Sakura Murakami | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

An aerial view shows the storage tanks for treated water at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan August 22, 2023, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Japan has said that the water release is safe. Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in July that Japan had shown selfishness and arrogance, and had not fully consulted the international community about the water release. China bans seafood imports from 10 prefectures in Japan, including Fukushima and the capital, Tokyo. Japan says the water will be filtered to remove most radioactive elements except for tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that is difficult to separate from water.

Persons: Fumio Kishida, Kishida, Wang Wenbin, Sitiveni Rabuka, Sakura Murakami, Tim Kelly, Kirsty Needham, Chang, Ran Kim, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Kyodo, REUTERS Acquire, Rights Companies Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Tokyo Electric Power Company, Nuclear, Authority, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Seafood, Pacific, Thomson Locations: Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, China, Beijing, Fukushima, Tokyo, South, Seoul, United States, France, Pacific, Sydney

☆ Fiji’s Leader Declines Invitation to China, Saying He Tripped and Fell
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Natasha Frost | More About Natasha Frost | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Fiji’s uneasy relationship with China has hit an unusual roadblock, in the form of an office door. In a video posted to social media on Tuesday, the Pacific island nation’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, said he was declining an invitation to visit China this week because he had tripped while looking at his phone, striking his head on a door at the entrance to a government building. “I do not know whether my head is hurt more than the door, or the door hurt more than my head,” Mr. Rabuka said. He was wearing a shirt flecked with bloodstains, which he pointed out to viewers, and had a bandage on his head. Because his doctor would have to change the bandage on Friday, he said, “I have had to inform China that I will not be able to undertake the trip coming up tomorrow night.” China had invited Mr. Rabuka to the city of Chengdu, where he was to have met with Xi Jinping, the country’s leader, at the World University Games.

Persons: Sitiveni Rabuka, ” Mr, Rabuka, “, China, Xi Jinping Organizations: World University Games Locations: China, Chengdu

☆ New Zealand and Fiji finalising defence agreement - Fiji PM
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins hold a press conference in Wellington, New Zealand June 7, 2023. REUTERS/Lucy CraymerWELLINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) - New Zealand and Fiji are finalising a defence agreement that will increase engagement between the two countries militaries and help build capacity and skills in the Fiji Defence Force, the Fijian prime minister said on Wednesday. Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka told media in Wellington, where he is meeting senior New Zealand government officials including the prime minister and opposition leader, that the agreement would be finalised next week. “The agreement will allow defence officials to undertake engagement in different areas including capacity building and upskilling and exposure to new technologies interoperability and technical support among other,” he said. In May, the U.S and Papua New Guinea signed a defence cooperation agreement and a maritime surveillance deal.

Persons: Sitiveni Rabuka, Chris Hipkins, Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON, ”, Rabuka, “, ” Hipkins, Lucy Craymer, Michael Perry Organizations: Fiji Prime, Zealand, REUTERS, Fiji Defence Force, Fiji’s, New Zealand, New, U.S, NZ, Thomson Locations: Wellington , New Zealand, New Zealand, Fiji, Wellington, Australia, China, Solomon Islands, U.S, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu

☆ Pacific meetings, defence pact, to go ahead in Papua without Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Biden had been expected to meet with 18 leaders from the region's main bloc, the Pacific Islands Forum, and sign a defence cooperation agreement with PNG on Monday. PNG Prime Minister James Marape is expected to announce details of the defence pact with the United States on Thursday, his office told Reuters. Fiji said Pacific leaders would hold discussions with Modi on regional cooperation. The chairman of the Pacific Islands Forum, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, said the regional meeting had originally been organised between the Pacific countries and India, and his plans to travel to PNG were unchanged. Biden will arrange another summit of Pacific island leaders this year after the disappointment caused by his cancellation of the PNG visit, his national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday.

☆ Fiji's former attorney general taken into custody - police
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, May 1 (Reuters) - Fiji's former attorney general, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who is also general secretary of the Pacific island nation's main opposition party Fiji First, was taken into custody on Monday after being charged with abuse of office, police said. The charge relates to a complaint lodged by an election official in February, Fiji police said in a statement. "Mr Sayed-Khaiyum remains in custody and will be produced in the Suva Magistrates Court tomorrow," the statement said. The criminal charge was approved by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, it added. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside of office hours.

☆ Australia PM visits Fiji to discuss nuclear submarines, regional security
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Australia is party to a nuclear-free zone treaty with 12 other South Pacific nations, including Fiji, in a region where sensitivity over nuclear weapons is high because of the effects of nuclear weapons tests by the United States and France. Albanese will meet with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka on Wednesday to discuss regional security, a day after unveiling details of the AUKUS submarine programme in San Diego with the leaders of United States and Britain. Australia will buy three U.S. Virginia-class submarines early next decade, before shifting to production of a new AUKUS submarine based on a British design from 2040. Australia emphasised on Tuesday the submarines will not carry nuclear weapons. Australia's defence officials have said the nuclear submarine fleet is needed as a deterrent to China's naval build up.

☆ Pacific islands tap Taiwan ally Nauru for next top diplomat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The top Pacific islands diplomatic post will pass to Taiwan ally Nauru next year, the 18-member regional bloc agreed Friday, as it resolved to face climate change and superpower rivalry as a united "family". The Pacific Islands Forum, meeting in Fiji, also said it would hold more talks with Japanese scientists and the International Atomic Energy Agency over Japan's plan to release treated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. Some Pacific islands fear the water release could contaminate fish stocks but Tokyo has said it does not pose a risk, and the meeting agreed that "science and data" should guide political decisions on the issue. Nauru has diplomatic ties with Taiwan and not China, and Waqa has previously clashed with Chinese diplomats. The leaders agreed to consider establishing a special envoy's office in the United States, which has pledged to triple aid to the region.

☆ U.S. opens embassy in Solomon Islands to counter China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

An aerial view of ships and boats anchored at the harbour in Honiara, Solomon Islands. Gilmore Tana | iStock | Getty ImagesThe United States opened an embassy in the Solomon Islands on Thursday in its latest move to counter China's push into the Pacific. The embassy in the capital, Honiara, is starting small, with a chargé d'affaires, a couple of State Department staff and a handful of local employees. The U.S. State Department notified lawmakers early last year that China's growing influence in the region made reopening the Solomon Islands embassy a priority. The Solomon Islands switched allegiance from the self-ruled island of Taiwan to Beijing in 2019, threatening the close ties with the U.S. that date to World War II.

☆ Kiribati to return to Pacific Islands regional group, ending rift
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The remote atoll nation of Kiribati said on Monday it would rejoin the Pacific Islands Forum, ending a split that had threatened unity at a time of increased superpower tensions in the strategically-located region. The statement said the Kiribati government had formally stated its "positive endorsement to rejoin the Pacific Islands Forum this year 2023". Kiribati, which is 3,000 kms (1,860 miles) southwest of the U.S. state of Hawaii, switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019. Rabuka's coalition government narrowly won a general election in December, the first transition of power in Fiji in 16 years, but has since been warned by Fiji's military against making "sweeping changes". Fiji's President Wiliame Katonivere on Monday evening announced that Fiji's Chief Justice Kamal Kumar had been suspended on Rabuka's advice.

☆ New Fiji govt suspends police commissioner, scraps China policing arrangement
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere said Commissioner of Police Sitiveni Qiliho had been suspended on the advice of the Constitutional Offices Commission, "pending investigation and referral to and appointment of, a tribunal". The Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem was also suspended by the commission, the statement said. Qiliho declined to comment to local media because he said he will face a tribunal over his conduct. On Thursday, Fiji Times reported Rabuka said his government would end a police training and exchange agreement with China. Republic of Fiji Military Forces Commander Major General Jone Kalouniwai earlier this month warned Rabuka's government against making "sweeping changes", and has insisted it abide by a 2013 constitution which gives the military a key role.

☆ Fiji fires its top cop and scraps a policing agreement with China
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Police operate a security check point in the Fijian capital of Suva in December following general elections. The Pacific island nation has played an important regional role amid competition between China on the one side and Australia, New Zealand and the United States on the other. Fiji's president on Friday suspended the commissioner of police following a general election saw the first change in government in the Pacific island nation in 16 years, after the military earlier warned against "sweeping changes." Qiliho declined to comment to local media because he said he will face a tribunal over his conduct. The Pacific island nation, which has a history of military coups, has been pivotal to the region's response to competition between China and the United States, and struck a deal with Australia in October for greater defence cooperation.

Leaving parliament on Saturday, Rabuka told waiting media he was humbled to have become the prime minister of Fiji before being rushed away to be sworn in by the country's president. Biman Prasad, leader of the NFP and the new finance minister, said the incoming government would work for the Fijian people. The prime ministers of both New Zealand and Australia released statements to congratulate the newly sworn-in Rabuka. "We strongly value Fiji as a close friend and partner as we progress our shared priorities for the region," New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. Anthony Albanese, Australia's prime minister, added in a tweet that he also looked forward to working with Rabuka.

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama's Fiji First has not conceded defeat, while a coalition of three parties say they have a combined majority and have agreed on People's Alliance leader Sitiveni Rabuka as prime minister. In a statement on Facebook, Bainimarama said the military "has been deployed to complement the Police in maintaining law and order". Bainimarama has been prime minister for 16 years, taking power in a coup, and later winning two democratic elections in 2014 and 2018. New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said New Zealand was "aware of the statement from Fiji's Police Commissioner". The prime minister must be voted in by more than 50% of lawmakers on the parliament floor.

WELLINGTON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Fiji's Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) is due to meet on Friday to decide if its decision to form a coalition with the opposition stands, a move that comes after the Pacific country's military was called in to help police maintain law and order. Fiji is waiting for its president to recall parliament so lawmakers can vote for a new prime minister after a national election last week showed no party received a clear majority. SODELPA, a power-broker holding three seats in the hung parliament, supports policies favouring indigenous Fijians, and on Tuesday signed a coalition agreement with the People's Alliance and the National Federation Party. However, the SODELPA's board is to meet again on Friday, after the validity of the decision to back the coalition was challenged by the party's general secretary and Fiji's Supervisor of Elections. However, opposition parties accuse Bainimarama and his allies of stoking fears of ethnic trouble as a pretext to cling to power.

SYDNEY, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Fiji's parliament has delayed its first sitting, where it had been expected a new prime minister would be sworn in to the Pacific islands nation for the first time in 16 years. People's Alliance leader Sitiveni Rabuka is expected to become prime minister, after three parties signed a coalition agreement on Tuesday after a hung election. The deal would dislodge Fiji First's Frank Bainimarama, who has led Fiji since a 2006 coup. read moreThe constitution requires lawmakers to elect the prime minister from the parliament floor if no one party has won more than 50% of seats. On Wednesday morning New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand was yet to congratulate Rabuka as it waited until the "dust settles and there is finality over processes".

☆ Fiji's ruling party leads provisional count after national election
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Dec 15 (Reuters) - The ruling Fiji First party led provisional national election results, boosted by a 31.42% vote for Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, with half of polling stations counted in the Pacific island nation after Wednesday's vote. He is in a tight race against another former coup leader and one-time prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, whose People's Alliance Party has formed a coalition with Fiji's oldest political party, the National Federation Party. The provisional result showed Fiji First with 45.88% of votes at 7 a.m. Thursday, ahead of the People's Alliance Party with 32.66% of votes, while the National Federation Party had 9.29% of votes. On Thursday morning, Fiji's election commissioner, Mohammed Saneem, demonstrated to media a "double blind data entry" system being used to avoid errors in the final count. Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong told reporters Fiji's election appeared to have been conducted "peacefully and in an orderly manner".

☆ Fiji national election a tight race in early provisional counting
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Voters queue at a polling station to vote during the Fijian general election in Suva, Fiji, December 14, 2022. Bainimarama is in a tight race against another former coup leader and one-time prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, whose People's Alliance Party has formed a coalition with Fiji's oldest political party, the National Federation Party. The election office said result updates were put "temporarily on hold" shortly before 11 p.m., and later said its election results app, used by the public, had errors. Bainimarama's Fiji First supporters campaigned on stability and progress, while the opposition said national debt was too high and questioned the state of democracy, he said. A multinational observer group led by Australia, India and Indonesia includes 90 election observers who are also monitoring the national vote counting centre.

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