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☆ 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

☆ Australia security pact 'stigma' must be removed -Vanuatu PM
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, June 7 (Reuters) - Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau said his government "must remove the stigma" from a security agreement with Australia and work toward having it ratified by parliament, local media reported on Wednesday. The Pacific Islands nation signed a security treaty covering disaster relief, defence, policing and cyber security with Australia in December, but during a visit by Australia Defence Minister Richard Marles on Tuesday, Vanuatu officials said the document was still being examined. Some Vanuatu politicians who favour ties with China, a major infrastructure lender, have expressed concern over the deal. "We must remove the stigma that the agreement is one-sided and does not reflect Vanuatu’s sovereignty," Kalsakau said in a speech, the Vanuatu Daily Post reported on Wednesday. China's navy sent a ship with humanitarian supplies to Vanuatu in April after two cyclones hit in March.

Persons: Ishmael Kalsakau, Richard Marles, Kalsakau, Kirsty Needham, Editng, Gerry Doyle Organizations: SYDNEY, Vanuatu, Australia, Australia Defence, Vanuatu Daily Post, Australian Defence Force, HMAS Canberra, Thomson Locations: Australia, China, Vanuatu, Washington, United States, Papua New Guinea

☆ Bank of China chairman visits Papua New Guinea amid Sino-US strategic rivalry
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SYDNEY, June 2 (Reuters) - Bank of China (601988.SS) chairman Ge Haijiao has travelled to Papua New Guinea (PNG) as the world's fourth-largest bank seeks an operating licence in the Pacific Islands nation, which is seeking to boost China trade while expanding U.S. defence ties. China, a major infrastructure lender and creditor in the Pacific Islands, struck a security pact with PNG's neighbour Solomon Islands last year. State-owned Bank of China has applied for a commercial operating licence that is still being processed. China had grown from a rural economy to the second-largest on earth, he said, urging Bank of China to fill gaps in the PNG banking market. Bank of China said in a statement it was the first branch of a Chinese bank to open in the Pacific Island country and it would play a role in local economic revitalisation.

Persons: Ge Haijiao, Antony Blinken, James Marape, Ge, Marape, Xi Jinping, Kirsty Needham, Tang, Jamie Freed Organizations: SYDNEY, Bank of China, U.S, of, Bank of, Initiative, Thomson Locations: Papua New Guinea, China, Washington, Beijing, Solomon, Australia's Torres Strait, State, of China, Islands, Bank of China, Sydney

☆ South Korea to boost aid, security collaboration with Pacific islands
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, May 31 (Reuters) - South Korean and Pacific Islands leaders agreed to strengthen development and security cooperation after a two-day summit where Seoul said it would double development assistance by 2027. A joint declaration from the first Korea-Pacific Islands Summit, held in Seoul, recognised shared values of "freedom, democracy, the rule of law, human rights" and the "rules-based regional and international order". "The Leaders acknowledge the need to strengthen development cooperation and security collaboration including maritime security, climate security, energy security, cyber security, human security, public health and transnational security," it said. South Korea also said it would double the scale of its development assistance to Pacific Island Countries by 2027, and supported the Pacific Islands push to preserve their maritime zones - a vital source of fishing revenue - even if climate change causes small island states to disappear beneath rising seas. It was the third summit in a week between Pacific Island leaders and a large economy, following meetings with India and the United States.

Persons: Yoon Suk Yeol, Kirsty Needham, Lincoln Organizations: SYDNEY, Pacific Islands, Pacific Islands Summit, Pacific, Thomson Locations: Seoul, Korea, United States, Asia, South, Pacific, South Korea, India

☆ Delay in security treaty with Australia as PNG consults 'domestic processes'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Lillian Suwanrumpha/Pool via REUTERS/File PhotoSYDNEY, May 30 (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea said a proposed security treaty with neighbour Australia would be delayed as it consults "domestic processes", a week after signing a defence agreement with the United States that sparked student protests. Papua New Guinea (PNG), a few kilometres (miles) to Australia's north, is being courted by China and the United States amid rising tensions between the two major powers. PNG Prime Minister James Marape met with Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles on Monday on the sidelines of the Korea-Pacific Islands Summit in Seoul and discussed the "proposed bilateral security treaty", Marape's office said in a statement on Tuesday. Marape had "conveyed his apologies to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for the delay in formalising this proposed Treaty with Australia", it added. Marles has said Australia wants to strike an "ambitious" security treaty that will see navy, airforce and army personnel from each nation working alongside each other more often.

☆ South Korea hosts its first summit with Pacific island leaders
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SEOUL, May 29 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol begins the country's first summit with leaders of Pacific islands on Monday, as Seoul seeks to increase its influence in a region that has become the focus of intense geopolitical rivalry. The South Korean president held bilateral talks with some of the visiting Pacific leaders over the weekend including Kiribati President Taneti Maamau and Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles will also attend the Korea-Pacific Islands Summit, his office said on Saturday, adding it would show cooperation between the 18 members of the Pacific Island Forum and South Korea for a secure region. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged more trade and development assistance in a summit with a dozen Pacific island leaders in Papua New Guinea (PNG) last week. The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken also signed a defence agreement with PNG after a Pacific summit.

☆ Pacific islands, in spotlight, to push climate change in South Korea summit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

read moreAustralia's Defence Minister Richard Marles will attend the first Korea-Pacific Islands Summit, his office said on Saturday, adding it would show cooperation between the 18 members of the Pacific Island Forum and South Korea for a secure region. The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed a defence agreement with PNG after a Pacific summit there on the same day. The back-to-back meetings with major economies were a "massive boost for recognition of our priorities", said Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna in a statement. The island states, which are seeking greater funding for climate change mitigation, have taken a collective approach to dealing with major powers. In Seoul, climate change, investment and fisheries are expected to feature in talks.

☆ US and Papua New Guinea poised to sign defense pact as Washington, Beijing vie for influence in the Pacific
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The United States and Papua New Guinea are poised to sign a new bilateral defense cooperation agreement – a move that has sparked controversy in the Pacific Island nation and comes as Washington and China jostle for influence in the region. Those concerns were heightened last year after Beijing signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands – and tried, but failed, to win support for a sweeping, regional trade and security communique with Pacific Island nations. “Papua New Guinea does not have enemies but it pays to be prepared. Blinken is expected to meet with leaders of the Pacific Island Forum regional body in Port Moresby on Monday, the forum has said, taking Biden’s place at the gathering. That bid has included opening embassies in the Solomon Islands and Tonga this year, while Biden hosted Pacific Island leaders in Washington for a summit in September and released the first-ever national strategy on engaging the Pacific Islands.

☆ Modi, Blinken to meet Pacific Island leaders in Papua New Guinea
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 22 (Reuters) - India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken have arrived in Papua New Guinea ahead of meetings with Pacific Island leaders to discuss trade, climate change and regional security on Monday. Modi, who was met at the airport on Sunday evening by PNG Prime Minister James Marape, will hold a bilateral meeting on Monday morning, before hosting a regional summit with 14 Pacific Island leaders. Blinken is expected to sign a Defence Cooperation Agreement between the United States and PNG, and also hold a Pacific Island leaders meeting in the afternoon. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, Samoa Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa, Vanuatu Prime Minister Alatoi Ishmael Kalsakau, and New Caledonia President Louis Mapou were among the Pacific island leaders to arrive on Sunday. New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australia's Pacific Minister Pat Conroy will also join the meetings.

☆ How Pacific Islanders in the US are keeping in touch with their culture through dance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Rachel Ramirez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

“One, two, three,” Hernandez, founder of the Pacific Islander dance group Lei Pasifika, yells out. “It makes them less homesick.”According to the US Census Bureau, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders were the fastest growing ethnic population in the US from 2020 to 2021. And in big cities with a large Pacific Islander presence, like New York, Portland, Oregon, and San Diego, many US-born Pacific Islanders as well as transplants are keeping their culture alive through dance. It’s a way for Pacific Islanders, especially young people, “to find themselves” and get connected with their ethnic identity and cultures, she notes. Mann says they noticed a growing number of Pacific Islanders, including those who aren’t Native Pacific Islanders but grew up in the islands, wanting to learn more about the culture and participate in dances.

☆ US to sign strategic pacts with two Pacific states, hopes for third in weeks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( David Brunnstrom | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) - The United States will sign new strategic pacts with the Pacific island states of Palau and Micronesia early next week and hopes to do so with the Marshall islands in coming weeks, the U.S. presidential envoy negotiating the deals said. As anticipated, he was unable to conclude the deal with the Marshall Islands. "We have made progress over my three-day visit to Marshall Islands and we hope to sign an agreement with the Marshall Islands in the coming weeks," he said. Chinese diplomats have been courting the region and China's construction and mining companies have expanded their business in many Pacific island nations. Yun said last month "topline" agreements would provide the three COFA states with a total of about $6.5 billion over 20 years.

☆ Six Pacific countries at high risk of debt distress - World Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

To match Feature PACIFIC-JUSTICE/ REUTERS/Lincoln FeastWELLINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - Six Pacific countries are at a high risk of debt distress in part due to government spending to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, the World Bank said in a report on Thursday. Among other countries in the region, Vanuatu is rated at medium risk, while Palau and Nauru’s debt is sustainable, the report noted. The World Bank last month said that Fiji must also take urgent action to reduce its debt burden. Stephen Ndegwa, World Bank Country Director for Papua New Guinea & the Pacific Islands, said reducing debt, strengthening revenue and improving the quality of government spending are critical areas for Pacific countries to address. It also said that Pacific countries should allocate more to social assistance and protection measures.

☆ Blinken to visit Papua New Guinea and sign defense, maritime agreements
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Papua New Guinea on May 21-22, sign bilateral defense and maritime security agreements and meet with Pacific Islands Forum leaders, the State Department said on Thursday, after President Joe Biden pulled out of a planned visit. An unfolding crisis over the U.S. debt ceiling prompted Biden on Tuesday to postpone a trip to Papua New Guinea. The U.S. is trying to counterbalance China's rising influence in the Indo-Pacific region and the Biden visit was seen as part of that effort. Blinken "plans to discuss a range of issues with Pacific Islands leaders, including shared priorities such as tackling the climate crisis (and) advancing inclusive economic growth for the people of the Pacific Islands...," the State Department said. Reporting by Eric Beech; writing by Costas PitasOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 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.

☆ G7 leaders reckon with Ukraine, haunted by Hiroshima nuclear legacy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Trevor Hunnicutt | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 19 (Reuters) - Leaders of the world's advanced democracies start their Group of Seven (G7) summit on Friday in Hiroshima with a sombre remembrance of the costs of war as they grapple with the conflict in Ukraine. Moscow has said it is ready to use its nuclear arsenal to defend its "territorial integrity" if necessary. As part of the efforts, each of the G7 members will be unveiling new sanctions, according to the U.S. official. G7 finance leaders warned in Japan last weekend of mounting economic uncertainty, in a subdued end to a meeting overshadowed in part by concerns about the U.S. debt stalemate. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to address the G7 leaders, though he may do so by video rather than in person.

☆ Biden's Papua New Guinea no-show deals blow to US credibility in Pacific - analysts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"For Papua New Guinea this was a very big deal and they will be disappointed," said Mihai Sora, a Pacific islands analyst with the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney. The cancellation was also a "blow to U.S. credibility in the region as a consistent partner", he added. "Up until now Pacific islands leaders have been giving the U.S. the benefit of the doubt over its ability to re-engage." Biden had also been scheduled to meet 18 Pacific island leaders in the three-hour visit to the PNG capital Port Moresby. The Pacific islands span 40 million square km of ocean, where vital sea lanes and submarine cables link the United States to its allies Australia and Japan.

☆ US opens embassy in Tonga amid Chinese increasing influence in the region
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The United States opened an embassy in the Pacific island nation of Tonga on Tuesday, Washington’s latest move to broaden its diplomatic footprint in a region where China has been increasing its influence in recent years. “These actions advance the Biden-Harris administration’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the US-Pacific Islands partnership and to support Pacific regionalism,” the White House said in a statement at the time. The embassy in the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa is the second Washington has opened in the Pacific islands this year, following the reopening of one in the Solomon Islands in February. Plans are also underway to open an embassy in Vanuatu, the State Department said in March. Analysts say the Pacific island nations have a strategic military value for the US and its ally Australia.

☆ Exclusive: Biden to sign defence pact in Papua New Guinea, with eyes on China
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Washington is seeking to deter Pacific island nations, which span 40 million kilometres of ocean, from security ties with China, a rising concern amid tensions over Taiwan. Biden will visit PNG capital Port Moresby on May 22 on his way to a summit of the Quad countries - the United States, Japan, India and Australia - in Sydney, the White House has confirmed. There he will meet 18 Pacific island leaders. Biden's meeting in person with Pacific leaders is seen in the region as a major step in restoring trust. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was told by Pacific leaders in Fiji last year: "We have felt at times, to borrow an American term, like a flyover country.

☆ Biden, India's Modi to meet Pacific island leaders, Papua New Guinea PM says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] U.S. President Joe Biden, left, and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks during the G20 leaders summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. Dita Alangkara/Pool via REUTERSSYDNEY, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, will join Pacific Islands leaders next month for a "historic" future-oriented meeting, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said on Sunday. "This is a historic first and at the same time a 'going forward' futuristic meeting of global superpowers, in the biggest country in the Pacific," Marape said in a statement. Papua New Guinea is being courted by China and by the U.S. and its allies, as Marape seeks to boost foreign investment. Papua New Guinea is negotiating security pacts with the United States and Australia, and Marape has been invited to visit Beijing this year.

☆ U.S. negotiator says Biden would be warmly welcomed in Pacific
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - The United States needs to accelerate diplomatic "catch up" with the Pacific island region in the face of Chinese competition, a U.S. diplomat said on Friday, adding that he was sure President Joe Biden would be warmly welcomed there if he decided to visit. "Obviously for the Pacific, I am sure they would welcome President Biden, if he were to go there," Yun told the Hudson Institute. A Pacific islands source told Reuters that Biden was also expected to meet with more than a dozen Pacific islands leaders, but the White House National Security Council has not responded to request for comment on the plans. Yun said the level of Chinese coercion in the region that is crucial to U.S. national security, but that had been neglected by the United States, is concerning. "So now we're playing ... a little bit of catch up, I would say, and but you know, we need to accelerate our catch up."

☆ Biden to make historic visit to Papua New Guinea next month - PNG officials
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, April 27 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will briefly visit Papua New Guinea (PNG) on May 22, officials from the Pacific island nation said on Thursday, as Washington seeks to counter growing Chinese influence in the strategically important region. A Pacific islands source told Reuters that Biden was also expected to meet with more than a dozen Pacific islands leaders during his May visit. Modi arrives in PNG on May 21 for a two-day visit en-route to Australia, the island nation's government has previously announced. The U.S. embassy in Canberra referred questions to the White House. The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

☆ Australia aims to start making guided missiles within two years
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, April 26 (Reuters) - Australia said on Wednesday it would start domestic manufacture of guided missiles by 2025, two years sooner than expected, in a wide-ranging shakeup of defence arrangements to focus on long-range strike capability. read moreThe timetable for domestic manufacture of guided weapons, originally set for 2027, will be hastened to within two years by allocating A$2.5 billion to the project, Defence Minister Richard Marles said in media interviews. The government was already in talks with missile manufacturers Raytheon (RTX.N) and Lockheed (LMT.N) about establishing production in Australia, Marles added. Discussions were also being held with Kongsberg (KOG.OL), the Norwegian manufacturer of the naval strike missile Australia had already agreed to purchase, he said. Pat Conroy, the minister for defence industry, said the review recommended acquiring Kongsberg's joint strike missile which would "allow us to look at manufacturing the Strike Missile family of missiles in Australia".

☆ Australia PM says Sydney to host Quad leaders' summit on May 24
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, April 26 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday that Sydney will host the 2023 Quad Leaders' summit on May 24, the third in-person meeting of the leaders of Australia, the United States, India and Japan. "I am honoured to host the first ever Quad Leaders' Summit in Australia in Sydney," Albanese said. China sees the Quad as an attempt to push back against its growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. Albanese said he also plans to visit the US when Biden hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the second half of the year. Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Alasdair PalOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ NZ Foreign Minister says encouraged China to support Pacific regional institutions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WELLINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - New Zealand's foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta said on Tuesday she had encouraged China to support and strengthen Pacific regional institutions and uphold a 22-year old agreement that sees Pacific countries look after their own security needs. After returning from Beijing, Mahuta told reporters she had encouraged China to support regional Pacific architecture such as the Pacific Islands Forum, the Forum Fisheries Agency and the Biketawa agreement. New Zealand has consistently expressed concerns about the potential militarisation of the Pacific with China's military buildup in the South China Sea. Mahuta met with China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, after he returned from a visit to Russia with President Xi Jinping. "Most of the emphasis from the Chinese side was on their efforts to encourage the peace plan that President Xi had put to President Putin," she said.

☆ After twin cyclones leave thousands homeless, Vanuatu takes climate plea to world stage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Pacific island nation's Minister of Climate Change, Ralph Regenvanu, said 119 governments have co-sponsored Vanuatu's resolution, which seeks legal clarity on the obligation of states to take climate change action, and draws attention to the vulnerability of small islands states hit by worsening storms and rising seas. Vanuatu hopes more nations will sign-on before the general assembly debate begins on Wednesday, and it will be passed by consensus, he said. More than 3,000 people are still in evacuation centres three weeks after two category-four cyclones hit Vanuatu, which has a population of 319,000 spread across 80 islands. Vanuatu took up the challenge to seek a legal opinion from the United Nation's top court after a group of Pacific islands university students in 2019 petitioned governments with the idea. Cynthia Houniuhi, President of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, said it was the most ambitious action they could think of.

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