Independent Analysis and Reportage
A View from Afar – In this podcast, political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning will analyse how the Pacific region has become the epicentre of foreign policy assertions from the region's and the world's powers.
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned a media blackout imposed on events during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s 10-day tour of Pacific island countries. Wang is today in Papua New Guinea at the end of an eight-country tour that began on May 26, but a “Chinese state media reporter is so ... <a title="RSF condemns Chinese curb on reporters during Pacific island tour" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/03/rsf-condemns-chinese-curb-on-reporters-during-pacific-island-tour/" aria-label="Read more about RSF condemns Chinese curb on reporters during Pacific island tour">Read more</a>
PNG Post-Courier Opposition People’s National Congress leader Peter O’Neill is urging Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape and the government to refrain from signing any agreements with China when their foreign minister visits Port Moresby today. “Now is not the right time,” the former prime minister said of the visit by Chinese Foreign Minister ... <a title="O’Neill warns Marape over ‘improper’ eleventh hour China meeting" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/06/02/oneill-warns-marape-over-improper-eleventh-hour-china-meeting/" aria-label="Read more about O’Neill warns Marape over ‘improper’ eleventh hour China meeting">Read more</a>
ANALYSIS: By Joanne Wallis, University of Adelaide and Maima Koro, University of Adelaide Yet more proposed Chinese “security agreements” in the Pacific Islands have been leaked. The drafts have been described by critics as revealing “the ambitious scope of Beijing’s strategic intent in the Pacific” and its “coherent desire […] to seek to shape the ... <a title="Amplifying narratives about the ‘China threat’ in the Pacific may help Beijing achieve its broader aims" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/05/28/amplifying-narratives-about-the-china-threat-in-the-pacific-may-help-beijing-achieve-its-broader-aims/" aria-label="Read more about Amplifying narratives about the ‘China threat’ in the Pacific may help Beijing achieve its broader aims">Read more</a>
RNZ Pacific The President of the Federated States of Micronesia says he has serious concerns about the details of two leaked Chinese government documents to be tabled at a meeting next week. President David Panuelo warns the sovereignty of the Pacific Island countries is at stake, and that the outcome of one of the documents ... <a title="China documents threaten Pacific sovereignty, warns FSM president" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/05/27/china-documents-threaten-pacific-sovereignty-warns-fsm-president/" aria-label="Read more about China documents threaten Pacific sovereignty, warns FSM president">Read more</a>
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific journalist Former Solomon Islands Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo says the country needs an economic solution to its instability problems, not a security solution. Lilo said he could not understand how current Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare could justify signing a security cooperation agreement with China to quell public discontent in ... <a title="Former Solomons PM says country needs economic solution not security" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/04/23/former-solomons-pm-says-country-needs-economic-solution-not-security/" aria-label="Read more about Former Solomons PM says country needs economic solution not security">Read more</a>
By Lice Movono, RNZ Pacific correspondent in Suva The United States insists it is a Pacific nation and has unveiled a raft of new strategies to better engage with other nations in the Region. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is the first Secretary of State to visit Fiji in nearly 37 years. During his ... <a title="US announces deeper engagement strategy to match China in the Pacific" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/02/13/us-announces-deeper-engagement-strategy-to-match-china-in-the-pacific/" aria-label="Read more about US announces deeper engagement strategy to match China in the Pacific">Read more</a>
SPECIAL REPORT: By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific journalist Armed conflict in West Papua continues to claim lives, displace tens of thousands of people and cause resentment at Indonesian rule. But despite ongoing calls for help, neighbouring countries in the Pacific Islands region remain largely silent and ineffectual in their response. This year, Indonesia’s military has ... <a title="60,000 flee as West Papua conflict deepens, poses questions for region" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2021/12/19/60000-flee-as-west-papua-conflict-deepens-poses-questions-for-region/" aria-label="Read more about 60,000 flee as West Papua conflict deepens, poses questions for region">Read more</a>
Asia Pacific Report newsdesk The French government’s decision to press ahead with the third and final referendum vote for self-determination in Kanaky New Caledonia was “unjust and unfair” for the Indigenous Kanak people, says a coalition of nine pan-Pacific civil society groups. The groups have also accused the French state of “colonial manoeuvring in the ... <a title="Pacific civil society groups slam New Caledonia ballot as ‘unjust … unfair’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2021/12/16/pacific-civil-society-groups-slam-new-caledonia-ballot-as-unjust-unfair/" aria-label="Read more about Pacific civil society groups slam New Caledonia ballot as ‘unjust … unfair’">Read more</a>
ANALYSIS: By David Robie “Loyalist” New Caledonians handed France the decisive victory in the third and final referendum on independence it wanted in Sunday’s vote. But it was a hollow victory, with pro-independence Kanaks delivering Paris a massive rebuke for its three-decade decolonisation strategy. The referendum is likely to be seen as a failure, a ... <a title="New Caledonia votes to stay with France, but it’s a hollow victory that will only ratchet up tensions" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2021/12/14/new-caledonia-votes-to-stay-with-france-but-its-a-hollow-victory-that-will-only-ratchet-up-tensions/" aria-label="Read more about New Caledonia votes to stay with France, but it’s a hollow victory that will only ratchet up tensions">Read more</a>
THE VILLAGE EXPLAINER: By Dan McGarry in Port Vila One of the key characteristics of Melanesian politics is its ability to remain formless and chaotic right up until the point where, after a strange and often obscure catalysing moment, it abruptly transforms itself. More than a few people will attribute Solomon Islands’ recent tragic political ... <a title="Dan McGarry: It’s how, not who in Melanesian politics" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2021/11/29/dan-mcgarry-its-how-not-who-in-melanesian-politics/" aria-label="Read more about Dan McGarry: It’s how, not who in Melanesian politics">Read more</a>
Paul G. Buchanan and Selwyn Manning analyse the AUKUS Alliance and deep-dive into how the AUKUS Alliance has triggered a geopolitical realignment. Why has this Anglophone AUKUS alliance formed? And what's the fallout?