Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On Saturday, Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te landed in Hawaii, bowed his head, and was garlanded with flowers.

It was his first stop in what will be an almost week-long sweep through the region, which will also take the president to the handful of Pacific nations that retain diplomatic ties with Taipei.

The trip has already drawn angry denunciations from China, which objects furiously to Taiwanese leaders putting their feet on US soil, and which has been working assiduously to strip Taiwan of its remaining diplomatic "allies".

Lai struck an optimistic tone on departure, saying he wanted to "expand our cooperation with our allies" and "let the world see Taiwan not just as a model of democracy, but a vital power in promoting the world's peace and stability."

But the visit comes as Taiwan struggles to halt Beijing's concerted and increasingly successful campaign to peel off Taipei's remaining international partners.

Some officials in Taiwan are also worried Beijing might respond to this visit by launching military exercises around the island, which would send fresh ripples of anxiety through the region.

After his visit to Hawaii, Lai will make flying visits to the Republic of Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, with a brief stopover in the US territory of Guam along the way.

Tuvalu, RMI and Palau might all be small nations, but they have outsized diplomatic importance for Taiwan: they're part of the rapidly dwindling band of countries that recognize Taipei, rather than Beijing.

(RNZ Pacific)

MAN RESCUED AT VAILIMA

An elderly hiker who had twisted his ankle while touring the Vailima Botanical Gardens had to be rescued by the Samoa Fire Emergencies Services Authority (S.F.E.S.A).

The emergency team responded urgently and swiftly once they got the call about the man who was stranded because he could not walk.

SFESA Commissioner Tanuvasa Petone Mauga confirmed that the emergency team was called up to the hiking spot at Vailima Botanical Garden on Monday morning.

According to Tanuvasa, the 61-year-old man went up for a walk and twisted his ankle which was why they called us for assistance. 

"Fourteen plus firefighters helped carry down the victim on the stretcher. The victim is a 61-year-old male, he is a Samoan living in Utah, USA. The leg was twisted inwards, and the call came in at 10.36 am," he said.

A hiker at Mount Vaea said she heard the sirens while she was on her way back down, but she thought it was a drill. However, as she was coming down she saw the man being carried down by the emergency responders.

"All I saw when I was there this morning is firefighters carrying the old man down. I spoke to, not sure if it's his daughter or his niece and she said he might have sprained his ankle. She also said that he is leaving tonight for New Zealand so hopefully, he'll be able to board his flight back home."

Tanuvasa said SFESA's duty was not limited to firefighting and medical emergencies only. He said the team has to attend to a variety of situations including such rescues.

(Samoa Observer)

VANUATU'S KAVA INDUSTRY THREATENED

Vanuatu's caretaker Foreign Minister Matai Seremaiah says regional labor mobility schemes are impacting the local kava industry.

Seremaiah said the large number of Ni-Vanuatu workers recruited for seasonal jobs abroad has reduced the local workforce available for kava cultivation.

"People, as farmers, need to know that there is a market so they can plant," he was quoted as saying.

"But for planting to continue, we also need labor. If we continue to export labor overseas, it will bring another great challenge for kava production by local farmers."

According to one analysis, Vanuatu, along with Samoa and Tonga, is a leading provider of labor under New Zealand's Recognized Seasonal Employer (RSE) work policy.

A total of 16,250 individuals from Vanuatu have participated in the RSE scheme between 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2022.

Vanuatu is also one of biggest labor- sending countries under Australia's Pacific Australia Labor Mobility (PALM) scheme, having sent over 6200 workers between June 2019 to May 2024.

Vanuatu Daily Post reports exporters have also expressed concerns about insufficient supply, saying demand for kava has reached record levels in 2024.

Panel discussions at a recent Kava Festival raised the question of whether the government should reconsider its position on foreign involvement in light of these challenges.

A policy currently prevents foreign investors from entering the kava sector to protect local farmers.

(Vanuatu Daily Post)

HANDFUL OF COUNTRIES RESPONSIBLE FOR CLIMATE CRISIS

A handful of countries should be held legally responsible for the ongoing impacts of climate change, representatives of vulnerable states have told judges at the international court of justice (ICJ).

During a hearing at the Peace Palace in The Hague, which began on Monday, Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s special envoy for climate change and environment, said responsibility for the climate crisis lay squarely with “a handful of readily identifiable states” that had produced the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions but stood to lose the least from the impacts.

The court heard how Pacific Island states such as Vanuatu were bearing the brunt of rising sea levels and increasingly frequent and severe disasters. “We find ourselves on the frontlines of a crisis we did not create,” Regenvanu said.

The hearing is the culmination of years of campaigning by a group of Pacific Island law students and diplomacy spearheaded by Vanuatu. In March last year the UN general assembly unanimously approved a resolution calling on the ICJ to provide an advisory opinion on what obligations states have to tackle climate change and what the legal consequences could be if they fail to do so.

Over the next two weeks, the court will hear statements from 98 countries, including wealthy developed states with the greatest historical responsibility for the climate emergency, such as the UK and Russia, and states that have contributed very little to global greenhouse gas emissions but stand to bear the brunt of their impact, including Bangladesh and Sudan as well as Pacific island countries.

The U.S and China, the world’s biggest emitters, will make statements too, even though neither fully recognizes the court’s authority.

The ICJ is one of three international courts tasked with producing an advisory opinion on climate change, alongside the international tribunal for the law of the sea (Itlos) and the inter-American court of human rights.

Itlos was the first to complete its advisory opinion, stating earlier this year that greenhouse gases are pollutants and that states have a legal responsibility to control them that goes beyond the UNFCCC.

The inter-American court held hearings in Barbados and Brazil this year and is expected to be the next to publish its opinion.

The ICJ will take these two advisory opinions into account, as well as significant court judgments from around the world, including a European court of human rights ruling earlier this year that Switzerland had breached the human rights of its citizens by not doing enough to cut national greenhouse gas emissions.

The ICJ says its advisory opinions are not binding. Experts stress that they clarify rather than create new law and will be referred to as authoritative documents in future climate litigation and during international climate negotiations.

(The Guardian)

NO DEAL ON PLASTICS TREATY

“We are drafting a treaty for the ages. A treaty to protect our environment, our health and our future. Getting this right is critical. And so, our work will continue.”

That was the commitment from the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Inger Andersen, in the early hours of Monday morning when she closed the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-5) in Busan Korea.

INC-5 was meant to conclude negotiations and finalize the text of the agreement. However, the seven-day meeting ended without a deal, with delegates agreeing to resume talks at a later date.

INC Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso said that more time is needed to effectively resolve the sticking points, and that a general consensus was reached to reopen the fifth round of negotiations at a later date, where negotiators will hope to conclude the talks.

“It is clear that divergence persists. That is reality of these negotiations,” said Andersen. “We just need more time to craft a meaningful outcome: an instrument that hits the problem hard instead of punching below its potential weight. So, we may be closing this session today, but the world will still be watching tomorrow.”

More than 80 delegates from Pacific countries actively engaged in the different negotiation rooms, advocating their national and regional priorities. The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) worked collaboratively with the Government of Vanuatu as Chair of the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS), and the Government of Samoa, as Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) to coordinate and strategize during long nights of negotiations.

Speaking as Chair of PSIDS, Ambassador Odo Tevi, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Vanuatu to the United Nations, said the world must continue the work to deliver a global transformative change, not incremental steps, to effectively solve the plastic crisis.

(SPREP)