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Tag - oceania

 
 

OCEANIA

Staff members carry the FIFA logo onto the field before the World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 19.
SOCCER
Aug 12, 2026
¡®Flawed¡¯ funding system keeping smaller nations on sidelines of FIFA civil war
Smaller nations are wary to taking a side and putting their funding at risk, according to former Papua New Guinea international Alex Davani.
The headquarters for the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji, on Friday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 11, 2026
China missile test deepens Pacific divide over growing militarization
Pacific Islands ?foreign ministers have been unable to agree on a collective statement condemning Beijing¡¯s missile test, despite individual leaders expressing alarm.
A meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji, on Friday. A senior official from Tuvalu called on the 18 members to collectively condemn China's missile test.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 7, 2026
Island nation Tuvalu feared tsunami from China missile test
China gave no warning on the early July missile test and did not say it would land so close to the island, said a senior Tuvalu foreign affairs official.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale shakes hands with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2026
Japan and Solomon Islands leaders agree to bolster ties
In their meeting, the two leaders discussed regional affairs, apparently with China¡¯s growing military and economic coercion in mind.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale wear garlands during the island nation's Independence Day celebrations at National Stadium in Honiara, Solomon Islands, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 7, 2026
Australia vows stronger ties with Solomon Islands amid China concerns
China on Monday test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile from a nuclear-powered submarine ?in the Pacific, its first test since 2024.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) listens to the national anthems alongside Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka during a traditional welcome ceremony at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva on Monday as part of his official visit aimed at strengthening the partnership between the two countries and regional cooperation in the Pacific.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 6, 2026
Australia signs defense alliance with Pacific nation Fiji
Canberra is bolstering ties with its South Pacific island neighbor as it seeks to outmaneuver China in the region.
Prime Minister of Vanuatu Jotham Napat (left) and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shake hands after signing the Nakamal agreement during the Australia-Vanuatu Leaders¡¯ Meeting at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 29, 2026
Australia and Vanuatu agree deal after impasse over China ties
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Vanuatu counterpart, Jotham Napat, signed the Nakamal Agreement in Canberra on Monday.
The coastline of Funafuti Atoll in Tuvalu. Gravely threatened by rising seas, the low-lying island nation relies on a $200 million trust fund to help foot the ballooning costs of climate change.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 23, 2026
Australia withholds climate fund reports over risk of diplomatic ¡®damage¡¯
Australia is the largest contributor to the Tuvalu Trust Fund, which has been invested on Tuvalu¡¯s behalf in funds exposed to coal mining, gas exploration and a crude oil refinery.
China is Australia's largest trading partner, ?accounting for almost a third of Australia's exports.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 15, 2026
China¡¯s strike capacity over Australia set to expand, think tank says
The report said ?China can already strike ?northern Australia with missiles deployed to its South China Sea outposts.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (center) poses for a commemorative photo with leaders attending the Island States Ocean Summit in Tokyo on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 3, 2026
Takaichi calls for cooperation at meeting with leaders of island nations
The prime minister says daily life in Japan and other island nations are deeply dependent on the marine environment and that collaboration is indispensable.
The coastline of Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu. A trust fund set up to help a South Pacific nation gravely threatened by climate change has invested in coal mining, gas exploration and the world's largest crude oil refinery.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 28, 2026
Fund for climate-exposed Pacific nation invests in fossil fuels
A trust fund set up to help a South Pacific nation gravely threatened by climate change has invested in coal mining, gas exploration and the world¡¯s largest crude oil refinery.
A Chinese research vessel at Avatiu Harbour in the Avarua district of the Cook Islands last year. New Zealand and the Cook Islands have repaired relations that were strained when the tiny South Pacific nation entered a strategic agreement with China.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 7, 2026
New Zealand signs Cook Islands pact to counter China deal
While the Cook Islands is a self-governing state, it is part of the Realm of New Zealand and has a special constitutional relationship with Wellington.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks during a meeting with defense ministers from Pacific island nations in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 24, 2026
Japan to invite visits by defense officials from Pacific island nations
Given China¡¯s growing presence in the South Pacific, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has emphasized the need for cooperation with the island nations across a range of fields.
China is turning its homegrown Kunming dog into a symbol and tool of its internal and international security strategy, using the breed to project control and shape security practices and norms in other countries.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2025
Chinese diplomacy goes to the dogs ¡ª literally
China is using its homegrown Kunming dog as a symbol to project control and influence security practices at home and abroad.
Surangel Whipps, president of Palau, speaks at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 25.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 25, 2025
Pacific archipelago Palau agrees to take migrants from U.S.
The island nation will let in up to 75 third-country nationals, in a deal worth $7.5 million.
Flags of Solomon Islands and China flutter near the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing in July 2023. A new think-tank report has proposed quasi-allies Japan and Australia divide up efforts to boost ties with Pacific island nations in a bid to maintain critical supply lines and prevent China from gaining a military foothold in the region in the event of a war.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2025
With eye on Beijing, Japan and Australia urged to divvy up Pacific island aid
An Australian think tank says the quasi-allies should work with the region to maintain supply lines and prevent China from gaining a military foothold in any war.
A nuclear bomb test at Bikini Atoll and Enewetak in June 1956. Such tests are best conceptualized as environmental disasters with consequences that are still felt today, particularly in Oceania and Central Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2025
Nuclear tests and a legacy of harm in the Asia-Pacific
Understanding former nuclear experiments as ¡°tests¡± is highly misleading, as each atomic explosion has released a tremendous quantity of long-lasting radioactive pollutants.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (center right) and Papua New Guinea leader James Marape pose with officials after the signing of the Pukpuk Treaty at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 6, 2025
With eye on China, Australia and Papua New Guinea ink mutual defense pact
The agreement is mainly intended to offset China¡¯s expanding military clout in the South Pacific and prevent Beijing from projecting power through Australia¡¯s northern approach.
Hisao Ito, a former resident of Tinian in the Mariana Islands, points to himself in a family photo taken when he was a child.
JAPAN / History
Sep 24, 2025
World War II survivor bears witness to family tragedy in Tinian mass suicide
Eighty-one years after the mass suicide, the memory of his father killing two of his sisters remains lodged in the survivor¡¯s mind, yet he holds no grudge against his father.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Papua New Guinea leader James Marape attend a flag-lowering ceremony in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 17, 2025
Australia and Papua New Guinea delay mutual defense pact
The postponement was Canberra¡¯s latest stumble as it seeks to counterbalance Beijing¡¯s expanding presence and clout in the Pacific region.

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Âé¶¹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness

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