King Tupou VI has offered sympathy and prayers to all those who lost relatives in last weekend’s Tongan volcano eruption and tsunami disaster or are still waiting for news about their families.

He said the whole of Tonga was devastated by the tsunami and it wiped out some of the islands, homes, plantations and possessions.

His Majesty’s first speech to address the nation following last week’s volcanic eruption has been delivered in Tongan in a video clip which was shared on Facebook last night as New Zealand and international aid programmes have stepped up.

The tsunami on Saturday killed three people and injured many. Waves of up to 15 metres flattened houses and caused extensive damage to Tongatapu’s western district.

It wiped out the islands of Mango, Fonoifua and ‘Atatā.

The king mentioned some biblical texts in his attempt to encourage his people to stand together to rebuild the nation.

“Let’s start with Jehovah as Jehovah is our refuge”, the king said referring to Psalm 91 of the Bible.

Facing new challenges
He said he could not say whether the natural disaster’s damage itself was less than the damage it caused to the environment and the evacuation of the people “as there was supreme over all in nature”.

“But it is astonishing, and I am grateful that the death toll was at a minimum,” the king said.

“While we feel and sympathise with immediate families and relatives of the deceased, we have been facing new challenges,” the king said.

He said the Armed Forces’ boats which transported people from the islands were affected by the pumice stones from the volcanic eruptions.

He said the people of ‘Eua valued their wharf more than their airport. And that was because that was what they mostly used for transportation and trade.

Standing together
“In times of trouble, people stand together so they could withstand the consequences,” the king said.

“It is not who have much money or assistance from overseas but the will of the people

“It is the determination to live on top of believing in God and show love, helping each other, have patience and be self-possessed”.

“In the aftermath of the disaster, we have to all stand up and work,” he said.

“It is our nation and the place where we grew up and it is only you and me who would treasure that”.

The king congratulated people from other countries and various partnerships, churches and businesses for helping Tonga.

Aid is coming from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United States. New Zealand’s Defence Force continues to coordinate with its partners.

New Zealand aid stepped up
HMNZS Aotearoa berthed today at Nuku’alofa port following successful wharf and harbour inspections conducted by Navy divers and hydrographers on board HMNZS Wellington.

Hydrographers were deployed to survey approaches to Nuku’alofa after the Wellington’s arrival, with Navy divers also conducting checks on the integrity of wharf infrastructure.

Once Aotearoa arrived, Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) stores, including bulk water supplies, were being offloaded as a priority and will undergo appropriate covid-19 sanitation by Tongan authorities.

Aotearoa is also able to provide continuous water supply while it is berthed.

HMNZS Canterbury was due to depart Devonport Naval Base tonight and is expected to arrive in Tonga early next week.

Supplies on board Canterbury include water, tarpaulins and milk powder. Vehicles and several containers of construction equipment are also on board.

Another C130 Hercules flight is also set to depart Auckland on Saturday with more stores on board.

Asia Pacific Report collaborates with Kaniva News.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan has met and thanked Captain Nathan Tai Tombe and crew of the HMPNGS Moresby for their “brave action” in intercepting and impounding a foreign vessel off the coast at the weekend, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

Eight crew on the unregistered ship were arrested and charged – one of them wounded in the boarding operation.

Sir Julius was unaware of the action, but was inspecting a new fish processing plant in which the New Ireland government is a joint venture partner, with Arthur Jones and his company, PMAX, officials said yesterday.

When Sir Julius arrived at the site, he noted the PNG Navy vessel docked at the adjacent wharf and asked Jones what the vessel was there for.

He was told the HMPNGS Moresby had intercepted an unregistered foreign vessel at sea near Kavieng and had forced it to come to port.

Sir Julius immediately visited the docked vessel and the captain and crew.

On recognising the former prime minister, the crew double-timed from the ship and mustered on the dock, where they saluted Sir Julius on his arrival.

Sir Julius then introduced himself to Captain Tombe, who proceeded to explain what had happened two days before.

Warned by bullhorn
The Moresby intercepted the foreign vessel and warned the crew of the ship by bullhorm to stop for inspection.

However, the warning was ignored. Warning shots which were fired over the bow of the ship were also ignored.

An update on the Chinese vessel #PNG Defence Force Navy intercepted today: the AFP was involved with the operation which saw the illegal vessel brought back to Kavieng. Former PM Sir Julius Chan congratulated the team. The 8 Chinese citizens have been arrested and charged. pic.twitter.com/HclD2oUHai

— Deni ToKunai (@Tavurvur) August 25, 2020

As a result, the HMPNGS Moresby drew alongside the vessel and fired aboard, wounding one crew member.

Following this, the ship pulled up and was ordered to accompany the Moresby to Kavieng, where it is at anchor, with the wounded crew member in Kavieng Hospital.

Sir Julius expressed his thanks to Captain Tombe and his crew, and invited the captain and several crew members to accompany him on his inspection of Arthur Jones’ rehabilitated fish processing plant.

Following the inspection of the plant, Sir Julius invited Captain Tombe to accompany him on a tour of the new New Ireland Legislative Assembly building, which is scheduled to be officially on September 15 and 16.

Captain Tombe, who hails from Jiwaka province, said he and his crew were stunned at the opportunity to meet Sir Julius.

“You don’t get a chance to meet someone like Sir Julius every day,” Tombe said.

“And for him to recognise us for the work we do was just amazing.

“He is a great man.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Papua Defence Force’s Navy has intercepted what news media have described as a suspected Chinese pirate vessel and have detained eight crew members, one with gunshot wounds.

EMTV News reporter Jeremy Mogi reported last night that the unregistered ship had been boarded between Kavieng and Manus after a routine patrol noticed suspicious movement on board.

Yesterday’s The National front page splashed the story under a banner headline: “Drama at Sea”.

According to EMTV, sources from Lombrum Naval Base said 8 crew members of the unnamed vessel had been detained, one of whom is currently admitted at Kavieng General Hospital after receiving gunshot wounds.

The vessel is believed to be operating illegally in PNG waters, with the source saying the navy took aggressive action after non-compliance by the crew who had refused to allow the navy to board the ship.

At present, all crew members are being interrogated by PNG Customs officials with assistance from the Australian Federal Police.

In 2017, the same vessel was intercepted in the Milne Bay waters, with cocaine also being seized from the vessel.

Sighted off New Ireland
Earlier, The National’s Miriam Zarriga reported that an official said the ship had been sighted in waters off New Ireland on Saturday. The navy fired at it when it ignored orders to stop, injuring one of its crew members.

PNG Defence Force Chief-of-Staff Captain Philip Polewara told The National that the unregistered foreign vessel was then escorted back to Kavieng Port by naval officers on the HMPNGS Moresby.

Captain Polewara confirmed that the PNGDF was now assisting police in their investigations into the vessel.

“As it is, I am unable to reveal any more information but can confirm the boat has no name, is unregistered and no other information can be found on it,” he said.

“Only one crew member on board is able to speak English.

“There is no fish on board as well.”

It is understood that naval officers on the HMPNGS Moresby had warned the crew members of the foreign vessel to stop.

But it continued to motor away.

Second warning shot
The officers fired another warning shot but to no avail.

The navy ship then pulled up alongside the vessel and fired shots, wounding the crew member.

A police source in New Ireland confirmed with The National that the crew member who was shot was recovering at the Kavieng General Hospital after an operation.

The vessel is anchored off Kavieng port wharf.

New Ireland police and the provincial administration confirmed yesterday that the incident occurred on Saturday evening as the HMPNGS Moresby was leaving for Lombrum Naval Base on Manus.

Police officers from Port Moresby, accompanied by members of the Australian Federal Police, arrived in the province on Monday to investigate what the ship was doing in the area.

Officers from the police, customs, National Fisheries Authority and Defence Force searched the vessel and found only two passports.

On board were eight men who appeared to be from different countries.

The area where the vessel was intercepted between New Ireland and Manus is known to seafarers as the “Morgado Square”, a protected marine area barred to fishing.

News reports from The National and EMTV are republished by the Pacific Media Centre with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The announcement came in the form of the New Zealand Defence Capability Plan 2019, which projects details on new military expenditure for the next 11 years. This is best reported in Jason Walls’ article, The Defence Force $20b spending plan includes a commitment to ‘space-based activities’.

Here’s the key part: “Big ticket items include more than $3.5b for new and replacement naval vessels and maritime helicopters, and up to $2.5b for upgrades to New Zealand’s Air Force. The Government also plans to bolster New Zealand’s army personnel to 6000 by 2035 – up from the current number of 4700 troops. As well as the traditional land, sea and air funding, the plan includes money for ‘space-based systems’ as well.”

At the top of the spending list is a decision to purchase “a fleet of so-called Super Hercules planes… costing more than $1 billion” – see RNZ’s NZ Defence Force spends $1 billion on newer aircraft fleet. And, both heavy and light “tanks” (or “armoured vehicles”) are also high up the military’s wish list that is being steadily ticked off by Defence Minister Ron Mark.

Such a massive military spend-up doesn’t really fit with the Government’s stated new “Wellbeing” approach, especially when so much of the reaction to the Budget was about the perceived inadequate spending on health, education and housing. As National leader Simon Bridges was self-righteously able to point out, the Government seems to be prioritising “tanks over teachers”.

Indeed, according to Zane Small, “National’s defence spokesperson has labelled the Government’s $20 billion defence spending plan ‘disingenuous’ and questioned how it fits into its ‘wellbeing’ mantra” – see: National questions how $20 billion defence spend is ‘wellbeing’. However, spokesperson Mark Mitchell also claims the Labour-led Government is simply continuing what National had been planning, saying the spending announcement “is reconfirming that we were on the right track with our 2016 Defence Capability Plan – they’ve confirmed that”.

Will Labour and Greens supporters be troubled by the Government falling into line with National’s pro-military plans? A backlash is unlikely. As with this government’s last big military spending announcement – see my column from last year, Where are the protests over the Government’s new ‘submarine-killers’? – opposition will be muted. Peace Movement Aotearoa and other progressive and protest groups are likely to be soft on this expenditure because it’s coming from a government “from their side”.

It’s more than tribal loyalty that might prevent a backlash though. The spin and framing of the military spend-up means that the essence of the escalating militarism is well camouflaged.

This can be seen in the almost Orwellian attempts to recast the military as some sort of “peace”, humanitarian, or environmental force. This is brilliantly conveyed in Stacey Kirk’s opinion piece in which she channels the military’s thinking on why they need more money, with a justification for liberal concerns – see: Why does NZ need a military? For more reasons than you might think.

Summing up why the military spending can be sold as being part of a “wellbeing” approach, Kirk says: “Guns, ships, planes and drones don’t bring ‘wellbeing’. Peace and security do though. Sustainable food sources do, ongoing climate science hopefully will, disaster and humanitarian relief does in a very direct and measurable way”.

Kirk concludes that the Government is therefore doing the right thing: “A $20b spend on defence equipment is a lot of money. Personal politics is likely to dictate whether that’s seen as wasteful or necessary. But New Zealand relies on the defence force for its protection in more ways than may be obvious. A defence force is necessary. Having one ill-equipped to do what it needs to would arguably be a more definitive waste.”

In another article on the spend-up, Kirk points to the more traditional – and perhaps, accurate – reasons that the Government is giving for building up a stronger military: “rising tensions between competing super powers, resource competition and plays for military dominance in the region and further abroad. New Zealand’s military had to be able to meet international obligations with coalition partners, and the Government expected the defence force to operate in the South Pacific on the same level it does in New Zealand territory. It would be a key plank of supporting the Government’s Pacific Reset” – see: NZ military $20b shopping list: Planes, boats, soldiers, satellites and drones.

Clearly the supposed threat of China looms large in the spending decisions, as Gordon Campbell explains: “this latest round of Defence purchases is our membership fee for defence alliances that were conceived way back during the Cold War era of the 1950s, some 70 years ago. The force configurations and related projections of military power belong to a bygone era, and the steeply mounting cost of the hardware can no longer be justified by any realistic threat scenarios in the Pacific, or the South China Sea. The only conceivable ‘enemy’ to justify these expenditures is China. Are we really planning for war with our main trading partner?”  – see: On the military withdrawal from Iraq.

Campbell suggests the decision, together with the announcement on Iraq and Afghanistan, shows “the Greens have been fobbed off, once again”. The Greens, have indeed, largely come on board with the escalating military expenditure, which is explained today by Richard Harman in his column, How Ron Mark persuaded the Greens to support our defence forces. Interviewing the party’s defence spokesperson, he says “Golriz Ghahraman was full of praise for Mark, for his approach to policy and for the way he has undertaken the review of the Plan.”

Clearly the Greens have been been won over on the basis of the justification of climate change and a military that takes on more humanitarian work. Ghahraman explains that the military’s “core work is going to be much more focused on things that are not to do with violence and war which is what we’ve been advocating for really strongly over the years”.

But have the Greens fallen for the green-washing of the military? According to Harman, the Greens’ traditional opposition “is tempered with a recognition of the role that Defence can play in civilian situations, particularly in the Pacific”.

Ghahraman also seems to have found a connection with the Defence Minister, which has enabled them find common ground. She says: “I think we do have incredibly high levels of mutual respect and we’ve come to this from a position of wanting to collaborate”.

Ghahraman explains: “I think, for him, has been dealing with someone who has also seen war in the Middle East… So we’ve we connected with each other because we both know what the work of Defence is really like.” She adds, “We’ve been able to kind of have a conversation at a really detailed level and also a really human level…. And I really do respect him.”

Nonetheless, despite defending the general plan, the Greens have still argued for lower spending and some different military priorities. Ghahraman has gone on RNZ today to say: “That is a lot of money and defence equipment costs a lot – but again we could have invested in smaller planes and done without the war-making capability that we’re renewing” – see Jonathan Mitchell’s Defence Force’s $1b spend unnecessary – Greens.

Ghahraman also told Richard Harman, “that the Plan needed to be read alongside the decision announced yesterday to end the New Zealand army deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.” And surely that is precisely why the Government made sure the troop departure was announced prior to the spend-up report. The “good news” departure announcement will have helped inoculate the Greens and Labour against criticism for then being so gung-ho on militarism.

For the announcement on New Zealand’s departure from its military deployments in the Middle East see Jason Walls’ ‘Time to go’: NZ to pull troops out of Iraq by June 2020, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Here’s the key detail: “There are 95 non-combat Defence Force personnel in the Taji Military Complex – their job is primarily to train Iraqi Security Forces. Following cabinet’s decision, that number will be reduced to 75 next month, then to 45 in January next year. The remainder would withdraw by June 2020.”

The Greens have claimed victory with the decision, despite the decision to extend the deployment for the time being. This caused some strong push back from the Deputy Prime Minister, who said: “It’s a bit hard to argue you’ve won when the troops are still there until June of next year – let’s be logical about it… How can it be a win if they’re still there?” – see Jason Walls’ Winston Peters: ‘A bit hard to argue’ decision to bring Kiwi troops home was a ‘Green win’. Furthermore, on the idea that the Greens had influenced the decision, Peters said “first time I had ever heard that”.

Finally, former Defence Minister Wayne Mapp has written a thoughtful response to the (delayed) decision to withdraw troops from the Middle East, suggesting that, in the end, this shows that Labour – despite its protests to the contrary – actually has a similar approach to National on foreign affairs and war – see: This belated withdrawal suggests the 2015 Iraq controversy wasn’t all it seemed. Mapp says that this episode illustrates that “Labour is not nearly as radical as their rhetoric would sometimes indicate. There is much more continuity with this government than some of their members would like to pretend.”