By Devin Watkins BERLIN | ROME. 14 September 2023 (IDN | VATICAN NEWS) — Pope Francis’ special envoy, Cardinal Matteo Mario Zuppi, the Archbishop of Bologna, is visiting Beijing on 13-15 September to seek peace in Ukraine, according to The Holy See Press Office. “The visit (to China) forms another step of the mission desired […]
Indonesia Favours “Cooperation” as Tensions Simmer at ASEAN Summit
By Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE. 9 September 2023 (IDN) — At the just concluded ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) summit in Jakarta, President of Indonesia Joko Widodo pleaded with the world’s big powers to “strengthen cooperation, not sharpen rivalries”. “I don’t know how many words of peace and stability we utter at every meeting… […]
Establishment of a U.S.-ASEAN Center in Washington, D.C.
JAKARTA. 6 September 2023 (IDN) — At the U.S.-ASEAN Summit in Indonesia on September 6, US Vice President Harris joined with the leaders of ASEAN in announcing their intent to establish, through a public-private partnership, a U.S.-ASEAN Center in Washington, D.C. To that end, the State Department has established a public-private partnership with Arizona State […]
China’s Shandong Province Expands Its Footprint to The Pacific
By Kalinga Seneviratne SUVA, Fiji. 2 September 2023 (IDN) — A high-powered delegation of Chinese ocean and marine scientists and Asia-Pacific scholars from Shandong Province visited Fiji promoting South-South cooperation to mitigate climatic change—Pacific Islands’ biggest security threat. Facilitated by the Chinese Embassy here, Shandong Province and Fiji signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to […]
Group Snubs Chance to Reset Peace and Justice for West Papua
By David Robie, Editor of Asia Pacific Report AUCKLAND. 1 September 2023 (IDN) — The ‘Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG)’ has thrown away a golden chance for achieving a historical step towards justice and peace in West Papua by lacking the courage to accept the main Papuan self-determination advocacy movement as full members. MSG comprises four […]
Thailand Is Open Again for Business and Tourism
By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS. 31 August 2023 (IDN) — With the arrival of the government of real estate magnate Srettha Thavisin on 28 August 2023, the Thai political theatre seems to be entering the next phase. As I feared in previous posts, this phase makes the 14 May election results look like a joke. The […]
Pacific Islands at a Cliff Edge
Viewpoint by Professor Biman Prasad* SUVA, Fiji. 26 Aug 2023 (IDN) — The Pacific Islands are now at a cliff edge. As a region, as countries and as peoples, we face some of the hardest and cruellest choices. First is the growing burden of the climate crisis. The climate crisis impacts all areas of life, […]
Fiji: Outrage at Japan Dumping Fukushima Waters into the Pacific Ocean
By Ravindra Singh Prasad SUVA, Fiji. 26 Aug 2023 (IDN) — With Japan announcing that they will start the process of dumping the contaminated waters from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean starting 24 August, island nations in the Pacific are gripped with fear and outrage with a nation that was seen as […]
USAID Launches Pacific Mission to Assist in Achieving SDGs
By Kalinga Seneviratne SUVA, Fiji. 18 August 2023 (IDN) — The United States government’s overseas development aid arm US Agency for International Development (USAID) opened two new offices in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Fiji on 15 August, pledging to assist Pacific island countries in addressing the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The last USAID office […]
NATO Enlargement Enthusiasts Look to the Indo-Pacific
By Ramesh Thakur* This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission. CANBERRA, Australia. 16 August 2023 (IDN) — Lord Ismay, NATO’s first secretary-general (SG), famously said the purpose of NATO was to “keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down”. The end of the […]