PINA

Anxieties are growing in Canberra that a landmark security agreement between Australia and Vanuatu could stall in the Pacific nation's parliament, with Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau facing increasing political blowback after signing the pact last year. Foreign Minister Penny Wong surprised many observers and foreign diplomats when she and Kalsakau inked the security pact during a bipartisan visit to Vanuatu...

O'Love, or Veve, Jacobsen has been winning elections in Niue for the past 35 years, apart from a spell when she was the country's high commissioner to New Zealand. She came fifth of the six successful candidates on the common roll at the weekend, in an election that brings a lot of new MPs, including six women, into parliament. Speaking with...

Republicanism was seen as a move against Queen Elizabeth II during her reign. Now the Commonwealth is at a crossroads. By Craig Prescott, Bangor University With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the glue that bound 56 disparate nations is gone. The future for the British Commonwealth is less certain under Charles III. The Commonwealth faces two main questions: the constitutional...

A wide-ranging Pacific assistance package covering environmental, military, and economic support for Australia's closest neighbours will be unveiled in Tuesday's budget, as the Albanese government moves to reassert influence and push back on China's growing ambitions in the region. The ABC has confirmed the additional “whole of government” funding, which is likely to involve the deployment of more Australian military...

The United States says it will open a new Embassy in Tonga this month as Washington steps up its diplomatic presence in the Pacific to counter China. Daniel Kritenbrink, the top U.S diplomat for Asia-Pacific, said officials would also engage with Vanuatu and Kiribati about opening new embassies there. In a statement, Kritenbrink said the U.S State Department has been in...

The Chinese Embassy has called on Fiji to uphold the one-China principle, stating that the Taiwan question is a matter of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. This follows reports that China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ma Zhaoxu, was supposed to deliver a message to Prime Minister Rabuka regarding “treading carefully on Taiwan”. However, the Embassy did not confirm these reports...

Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has called on the local media fraternity to be as free as they can ever be following the repealing of the Media Act 2010 last month. He made the remarks in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day which was celebrated Wednesday. Rabuka said the public should learn to accept the role of the media as there...

China will be one of eight countries where Papua New Guinea will establish trade missions, Papua New Guinea Trade minister says. International Trade and Investment Minister Richard Maru said this following a recent decision by the Government to establish a National Trade Commission Service. “Our trade representatives will have their own establishments within foreign missions or stand-alone offices or through the...

By Nanaia Mahuta, New Zealand Foreign Minister I want to set out – Aotearoa NZs Independent Foreign Policy and Why the Pacific Matters for Regional Security. Indeed much of the emphasis in foreign policy has been the impact of Russia’s unlawful aggression in Ukraine, tensions in the Indo-Pacific, North Korea’s provocations, internal conflict in Sudan alongside ongoing unrest across other...

The need for a well-funded response to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing has never been greater.  By Jade Lindley The Pacific Ocean is the most abundant fishing region, however an uptick in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing around the islands means that might not always be true. Pacific tuna fisheries – a staple food and valuable economic source within and beyond...