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Country: Australia

Solomon Islands Assure Australia on Chinese Base, Leaves Some Wiggle Room

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare of the Solomon Islands assured Australia’s visiting Foreign Minister Penny Wong that China won’t be allowed to build a permanent military base there.  Wong told journalists: “I welcomed Prime Minister Sogavare’s ...

China’s New Ambitions in the South Pacific

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's recent South Pacific tour put the region in play as the latest venue for Great Power political rivalries. But even though the ten Pacific Island Countries (PIC) are among the smallest in the world, they came ...

U.S. Special Envoy Visits Marshall Islands Amid Concern About China

Joseph Yun, the Biden administration’s special envoy to the Pacific Island States, is in the region for a visit to the Marshall Islands. The visit, from 14 to 16 June, will focus on renewing the U.S.’s Compact of Free Association (COFA) economic agreements with the Marshall Islands, ...

China, Cambodia Break Ground on Controversial Navy Base Renovation Project

Cambodian and Chinese officials dismissed international concerns about a new Chinese-financed upgrade of a navy base in the southern Preah Sihanouk province during a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday. Defense Minister Tea Banh and China's ambassador Wang Wentian ...

China’s Emerging Global Security Agenda Extends From Djibouti to the Solomon Islands

By Lukas Fiala In April, China confirmed the signing of a bilateral security agreement with the Solomon Islands, a supposed draft of which had been leaked a few weeks earlier. Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi embarked on an ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The G7’s New Infrastructure Initiative Could Strengthen China’s Global South Game: Experts

The G7’s new Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment (PGII), a $600 billion plan to build infrastructure across the Global South and counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), could have the effect of improving how Chinese companies do business and could end up improving the BRI itself, according to development experts. 

Some acknowledged that the BRI has been controversial for its environmental and debt impacts. But they also pointed out ...

Wang Yi’s South Pacific Tour Didn’t Go as Well as Planned… But That’s OK, He’ll Be Back

Wang Yi's controversial tour of the South Pacific will finally come to an unceremonious end on Saturday. PR-wise this wasn't Beijing's finest moment. My guess is the post-mortem next week at the Foreign Ministry in Beijing is going to be very ...

Australia Breathes a Big Sigh of Relief After Pacific Island Countries Push Back Against China

You can see from the expression on visiting Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong's face the palpable relief from the reception that she received in Fiji over the weekend and, no doubt, to the news that as a group, Pacific Island Countries balked at China's plan to deepen ...

Wang South Pacific Tour Provokes Strong Response From Both Australia and New Zealand

Anxieties in Australia and New Zealand about China's growing influence in the Solomon Islands and the greater South Pacific had already been running high before Wang's arrival on Wednesday. Now, however, those worries have moved into overdrive. The governments in both ...

China’s Foreign Minister to Visit Seven Pacific Island States

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is embarking on a ten-day tour of Pacific Island states this week. Kicking off with the Solomon Islands, the tour will also take Wang to Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor. The trip will run ...

Western Governments Expected to Fret Anew When Wang Yi Travels to the Solomon Islands to Sign Security Pact

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to embark on a three-nation tour of the South Pacific this week that will include a stop in the Solomon Islands where he will sign a controversial new security agreement.
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