South China Morning Post published this video item, entitled “China’s proposed security deal with Pacific islands falls short as Wang Yi tours region” – below is their description.
Foreign ministers of 10 Pacific island nations have failed to endorse a proposed security cooperation deal with China after a meeting with Beijing’s top diplomat in Fiji. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi used a video link on May 30, 2022, for the meeting with his counterparts from Fiji as well as from Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia, as part of his 10-day tour through the region. The officials discussed Beijing’s proposed “Common Development Vision” document, but did not immediately endorse the document and Micronesia’s President David Panuelo raised strong concerns about the proposal’s security arrangements. Wang has tried to ease concerns over China’s motives in the Pacific islands, which has emerged as a contested region in competition for geopolitical influence as China, the US and Australia all try to increase their engagement with the region.
Related story:
Pacific island states mull China security deal as Beijing tries to deepen ties https://sc.mp/51ly
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The South China Morning Post (SCMP), with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper founded in 1903. It is Hong Kong’s newspaper of record, owned by Alibaba Group.
Australia, officially known as the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world’s sixth-largest country by total area.
Beijing, China’s sprawling capital, has history stretching back 3 millennia. Yet it’s known as much for modern architecture as its ancient sites such as the grand Forbidden City complex, the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
China is the third largest country in the world by area and the largest country in the world by population. Properly known as the People’s Republic of China, the political territory of the country includes Tibet and Hong Kong. The capital is Beijing.
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles (2,000 km; 1,300 mi) northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The most outlying island is Ono-i-Lau. 87% of the total population of 883,483 live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.
Humans have lived in Fiji since the second millennium BC—first Austronesians and later Melanesians, with some Polynesian influences. A military government declared a Republic in 1987 following a series of coups d’état.
Fiji has one of the most developed economies in the Pacific through its abundant forest, mineral, and fish resources. The currency is the Fijian dollar, with the main sources of foreign exchange being the tourist industry, remittances from Fijians working abroad, bottled water exports, and sugar cane.
Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an independent country in the central Pacific Ocean. The permanent population is just over 110,000, more than half of whom live on Tarawa atoll. The state comprises 32 atolls and one raised coral island, Banaba.
Their spread straddles the equator and the 180th meridian, although the International Date Line goes round Kiribati and swings far to the east, almost reaching the 150° W meridian. This brings Kiribati’s easternmost islands, the southern Line Islands south of Hawaii, into the same day as the Gilbert Islands and places them in the most advanced time zone on Earth: UTC+14.
Kiribati is the only country in the world to be situated in all four hemispheres.
Kiribati gained its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming a sovereign state in 1979. The capital is South Tarawa. Kiribati is a member of the Pacific Community (SPC), Commonwealth of Nations, the IMF, and the World Bank, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999.
The Federated States of Micronesia is a country spread across the western Pacific Ocean comprising more than 600 islands. Micronesia is made up of 4 island states: Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuuk and Yap. The country is known for palm-shaded beaches, wreck-filled dives and ancient ruins, including Nan Madol, sunken basalt temples and burial vaults that extend out of a lagoon on Pohnpei.
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth’s oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands, Savai’i and Upolu, two smaller inhabited islands, Manono and Apolima, as well as several small uninhabited islands including the Aleipata Islands.
The Solomon Islands, a nation of hundreds of islands in the South Pacific, has many WWII-era sites. Guadalcanal, a province and one of the archipelago’s largest islands, honors fallen Allied soldiers at its U.S. War Memorial. Guadalcanal is also home to the nation’s capital, Honiara, whose bustling Central Market showcases the islands’ produce and traditional handicrafts.
Tonga is a Polynesian kingdom of more than 170 South Pacific islands, many uninhabited, most lined in white beaches and coral reefs and covered with tropical rainforest. The main island, Tongatapu, is protected by lagoons and limestone cliffs. It’s home to the rural capital of Nuku’alofa, as well as beach resorts, plantations and the Ha’amonga ʻa Maui, a monumental coral gate from the 1200s.
