Tag - oceania

 
 

OCEANIA

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa attends a news conference in Helsinki on Jan. 9.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 20, 2024
Japan's top diplomat eyes Fiji trip for Pacific island talks next month
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa is expected to highlight the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific, in an effort to counter China's expanding clout in the region.
Locals in the Cook Islands are cynical about the growing attention fixed on their small country, with many saying they don't necessarily trust either superpower to do the right thing by them.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 19, 2024
U.S.-China fight for one Pacific nation mirrors a regional battle
The success of Beijing’s strategy in the Pacific was reinforced just this week when Nauru became the latest island nation to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Flags of Solomon Islands and China flutter near the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing on July 11, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 17, 2024
China helps Pacific Islands with policing, not defense: ambassador
Solomon Islands and Kiribati switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 2019, with Nauru joining just after Taiwan's election.
An exhibition on marine life at COP28 in Dubai. The conversation around oceans and climate change was not the main focus of the conference, despite the key role oceans play in absorbing carbon.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2023
COP28, didn't the oceans deserve more attention?
Oceans are key to mitigating climate change and severely impacted by it. Yet they didn't take center stage at COP28 — though some progress was made.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during an event in Pyongyang. Smuggling efforts could be directly linked to the North's military ambitions, analysts have said.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 8, 2023
North Korean smugglers disguised under Pacific island flags
With strict sanctions limiting Pyongyang's ability to import fuel, smugglers have adopted increasingly creative methods.
U.S. Marines stand by a transfer case during a repatriation ceremony for the possible remains of unidentified service members lost in the Battle of Tarawa during World War Two in the Republic of Kiribati, July 18, 2019.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 19, 2023
The bloody, 76-hour battle on a tiny atoll that helped end World War II
The Battle of Tarawa, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, took a heavy toll on American forces and led to outrage at home.
A man walks past a giant piece of driftwood on the shoreline of Tepuka, in the Funafuti atoll, in Tuvalu.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 11, 2023
Australia signs security and migration pact with Pacific's Tuvalu
Canberra's security guarantee will allow it to respond to military aggression, protect the nation from climate change and boost migration.
A member of the team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)  checks fish samples at Hisanohama Port in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on Oct. 19.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 11, 2023
Pacific island nations express concern over Fukushima water release
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown noted "the significance of potential threats of contamination to the health and security of the blue Pacific."
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attend a news conference after visiting the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 9, 2023
Australia’s Albanese to face anti-nuclear push at Pacific talks
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is beginning 24 hours of intensive meetings between the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum.
Marshall Islands President David Kabua addresses the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 20.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 17, 2023
U.S. finalizes 20-year extension of Marshall Islands ties
Washington is set to provide the Marshall Islands with $2.3 billion over the next 20 years.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare at U.N. headquarters in New York on Sept. 22
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 28, 2023
Solomons leader says he spurned U.S. summit 'lecture'
The pro-China prime minister severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2019, unlocking large sums of Beijing aid and investment.
Customers load their shopping into a vehicle at a New World supermarket in Wellington, operated by Foodstuffs New Zealand.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 27, 2023
Cost-of-living stress fuels crime wave in Australia and New Zealand
While the thefts are brazen, organized and increasingly violent, experts say the shoplifting underscores the hardship many people are facing.
U.S. President Joe Biden poses for a photograph with Pacific Islands Forum leaders on the South Portico of the White House in Washington on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 26, 2023
Biden seeks to reassure Pacific islands in push to counter China
U.S. President Joe Biden sought to reaffirm Washington’s commitment to the Pacific islands as he again hosted leaders from the region at the White House.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare addresses the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 23, 2023
Solomon Islands leader 'appalled' by Japan on Fukushima water
Addressing the U.N. General Assembly, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare warned of effects on his South Pacific archipelago.
Tuvalu's Finance Minister Seve Paeniu shows a picture of his grandchildren on his phone while attending the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Oceans
Sep 22, 2023
Tuvalu partners with Australia as rising seas threaten survival
The project will test a new U.N. blueprint under which one rich nation takes responsibility for raising funds to support a climate-vulnerable country.
Marshall Islands President David Kabua addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 21, 2023
Marshall Islands calls on U.S. to address legacy of nuclear testing
The Pacific Island nation said it wanted to maintain ties with the U.S., but noted that Washington must address its legacy of mass nuclear testing.
Pacific Island Forum Secretary General Henry Puna
WORLD / Politics
Sep 19, 2023
Pacific island nations to hold second summit with Biden next week
Henry Puna of the Pacific Islands Forum said the region had gone from a period of neglect to one of strategic interest, competition and "manipulation."
Many scientists say more research into volcanoes is vital to gauge how far eruptions can briefly affect the long-term trend of global warming, which is primarily driven by burning fossil fuels.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / ANALYSIS
Sep 15, 2023
Why is 2023 so hot? A rare Pacific volcano is among the suspects
Greenhouse gas emissions are overwhelmingly to blame, scientists say, but water vapor from the Tonga eruption last year may have played a role too.
U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders during the U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit at the White House in Washington last September.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 19, 2023
No clear winner in U.S.-China contest in the South Pacific
The vast ocean region, pivotal in World War II, is in the spotlight again amid tensions over Taiwan.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with a payload of 21 Starlink satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 27.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 18, 2023
Starlink lifts off in Asia as satellite internet race heats up
Elon Musk's company has carved out a niche and an opportunity through the region's natural disasters and the vast sweep of its archipelagoes and islands.

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree