PINA

Beijing has issued a fierce rebuttal to concerns expressed by New Zealand and Australia over its draft security arrangement with the Solomon Islands. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called some of the reaction from some leaders condescending and “privileged”, and that the people of the Solomon Islands are in favour of the agreement, that could see China establish a...

Defence Minister Peeni Henare says he was caught “off guard” by revelations Solomon Islands and China were forging a security agreement, as neither New Zealand nor Australian intelligence anticipated the move. Henare met Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton while in Australia on Friday, as reports emerged the tiny Pacific nation was preparing to sign a security agreement with China that...

An anti-corruption group in Solomon Islands says the government's move to sign a security agreement with China is just another controversial policy decision it has made in recent years. The Pacific country has drawn criticism from Australia and New Zealand after a draft copy of the security agreement being brokered with China was leaked. Transparency Solomon Islands chief executive in Honiara...

The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General on Monday called on countries in Asia and the Pacific to speed up the shift from fossil fuels to new, low-carbon development models, in a just and inclusive way. “Moving away from coal and fossil fuels in a region that accounts for 75 percent of global coal-fired generation capacity will not be easy. But it...

Australia has lost influence in the Pacific by failing to act on climate and cutting foreign aid, Anthony Albanese says, amid concerns about China’s proposed security deal with Solomon Islands. Australia and New Zealand are worried the draft agreement could jeopardise regional stability, with China having the opportunity to base navy warships in the Pacific less than 2,000km off the...

Australia has been told it must do more to counter China’s growing influence in Papua New Guinea after the Solomon Islands’ shock security deal with Beijing forced a last-minute lobbying campaign across the Pacific. In phone calls on Monday evening with Fiji and Papua New Guinea, Prime Minister Scott Morrison asked the two Pacific nations to help convince the Solomon...

National Capital District Governor and a member of the Papua New Guinea Special Parliamentary Committee on Gender Based Violence(GVB) Powes Parkop expressed his disappointment over the recent enactments in Parliament stating that despite almost 10 years of fighting for women’s seats in parliament nothing has been done to date to realise that. “In just one go they’ve created 13 new...

Pacific officials have started a four-week training course to help them proactively engage with negotiations and implementation of e-commerce rules. As stressed by the Pacific Regional E-commerce Strategy and Roadmap, the regulatory environment is an essential enabler of e-commerce readiness. Currently, many Pacific countries require support to negotiate and implement rules suitable to boost digital trade. To address these gaps, the...

RNZ Pacific's regional correspondent, Kelvin Anthony spoke to President Surangel Whipps Jr, of Palau, on a range of issues including. *The response and recovery from Covid-19 *The emergency rift at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) *Palau's new digital residency programme *The Ocean's Conference *The escalation of military activity in the Pacific * Climate change *The implications of the planned ending of some of the US economic...

By Anna Powles and Joanne Wallis When the draft security agreement between Solomon Islands and China landed in the news cycle on Thursday, we shared a sense of dread. Initial analysis of the agreement in the Australian media was typically narrow and, at times, downright unhelpful. The most outlandish claim was that Australia should be prepared to ‘invade’ Solomon Islands...