PINA

New Zealand on Wednesday said it would extend the New Zealand Defence Force's deployment to the Solomon Islands until at least May next year, amid concerns among Western allies about China's growing presence in the South Pacific. New Zealand deployed troops to the Solomon Islands at the request of the nation's government in late 2021 after rioting broke out in...

The U.S, Japan, Australia and India have launched a satellite-based initiative to help countries in the Indo-Pacific region track illegal fishing and unconventional maritime militias, in their latest effort to counter China. President Joe Biden and the other leaders of the Quad security grouping unveiled the scheme in Tokyo at their fourth summit in just over a year. The Quad, which...

Media Association of Solomon Islands (MASI) has issued a boycott notice to its members for the PRC Press event scheduled for Thursday. MASI President, Georgina Kekea said MASI is disappointed that media is only allowed limited access for the visit. Kekea said Solomon Islands is a democratic country and when media freedom is dictated on someone else’s terms, it then impedes...

China will seek a region-wide deal with almost a dozen Pacific islands covering policing, security and data communications cooperation when Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosts a meeting in Fiji next week, documents seen by Reuters show. A draft communique and five-year action plan sent by Beijing to 10 Pacific islands ahead of a foreign ministers meeting on 30 May has...

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 04 June, on a tour of the region that has...

Australia's new foreign minister, Penny Wong travels to Fiji Thursday  "to discuss how we can best secure our region and help build a stronger Pacific family." She says the visit in her first week on the job "demonstrates the importance we place on our relationship with Fiji and on our Pacific engagement." Wong says Australia will listen to its Pacific partners...

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has urged China to be transparent as it sends a high-level delegation through the “contested” Pacific. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is leading a tour through the region from Thursday, beginning with the hotspot Solomon Islands, which recently signed a security tie-up with Beijing. The Australian and New Zealand governments sounded the alarm on that...

The monkeypox outbreak that has been reported in 16 countries and several regions of the world can still be contained and the overall risk of transmission is low, the UN health agency said on Tuesday. “What we know from this virus and these modes of transmission, this outbreak can still be contained; it is the objective of the World Health...

The leaders of Japan, the United States, Australia and India on Tuesday vowed to extend more than US$50 billion in infrastructure aid and investment in the Indo-Pacific over the next five years, while making clear that a change of status quo by force anywhere is unacceptable in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine. The message that came out from...

Pacific and Caribbean nations have joined Vanuatu in calling for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on countries’ legal obligations to protect people from climate harm. Formed of more than 80 islands stretched across 1,300 kilometres, Vanuatu is facing sea level rise and increasingly powerful cyclones that periodically cripple its economy. With the world not on track...