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CHINA

Samoa Ministry of Health logo
Apia, SAMOA — The Samoa Ministry of Health has confirmed that two Samoan sailors are in quarantine for 14 days at the Faleolo District Hospital amid fears they might be carrying China's coronavirus. According to the Samoa Observer, the two have been at the hospital, which has been converted into a...
Kingdom of Tonga logo
Nuku'alofa, TONGA — A New Zealand-based Tongan lawyer, Nalesoni Tupou, is questioning China's claim it could speak for or represent Tonga at the United Nations (UN). That comes after Tonga lost its right to vote because of outstanding fees. Those fees have since been repaid with Tonga's chief...
BANGKOK (AP) — Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday the U.S. will invest and trade more in Asia as it rolls out an American plan to support “sustainable” projects in Asia as a counterpoint to China’s multibillion-dollar “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative. Ross is leading a high-...
View of Apia, Samoa
Apia, SAMOA — China will seek to expand its economic and diplomatic influence in the South Pacific at a forum this weekend, amid growing concern from the US and its allies over Beijing’s push in the strategically important region. Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua will lead the Chinese delegation at the...
Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua.
Apia, SAMOA — China will roll out fresh offers of cash and red-carpet trips when Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua meets Pacific leaders in Samoa next week to spruik Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative. Mr Hu, a senior Chinese Communist Party Politburo member, will try to convince Pacific...
China's President Xi Jinping during state visit to PNG
Apia, SAMOA — China's ambassador to Samoa labelled critics of Beijing's activities in the Pacific "ignorant" and "prejudiced" Tuesday in the latest testy public missive from the rising Asian superpower's diplomatic corps. Beijing's growing influence in the Pacific islands was a major theme at a...
Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi
Funafuti, TUVALU — Pacific island leaders do not share Australia's concerns about China's rising influence in the region, Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Malielegaoi said Thursday. While Canberra and Washington fear China's long-term ambition is a military base in the Pacific, Malielegaoi said he...
Tuvaluan children sing a welcome for Pacific leaders at Funafuti airport.
Funafuti, TUVALU — The Pacific Leaders Forum in Tuvalu is shaping up to be a fiery one as superpower interests threaten to push aside regional concerns. Island nations consider climate change to be the biggest threat facing the region but western powers, such as Australia and the US, are more...
A pig crosses the tarmac at Asau airfield
Asau, SAMOA — Early in the morning, before sunrise, low tide on the Samoan island of Savai'i reveals the remnants of an old American airstrip, washed away by decades of erosion, cyclones and tsunamis. The World War II site in Asau, which also hosts a 1960s-era concrete wharf in its well-protected...
The US Coast Guard cutter Bertholf
MANILA, Philippines — The US Coast Guard will expand its presence to the Asia Pacific in the coming months amid China’s growing influence in the region. Adm. Karl Schultz, commandant of the US Coast Guard, said in a telephone conference with reporters that they are “doubling down” in Oceania in the...

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