Author: TMC Palau

Taiwan Diplomacy Power Rankings: June-August, 2026 – Domino Theory We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.AcceptDeny Source link

Luca Tu’avao Walton’s exhibition at Fibre Gallery draws on the nostalgia of island life.”I think there’s something really special about having a first show as a Pasifika artist and being able to decide what that world looks like for yourself,” he said.In the heart of Ōtautahi Christchurch, the Fibre Gallery is a hub committed to the visibility of Pacific artistry since it opened in 2022.On 21 August, Walton – otherwise known as @lucidluca – transported crowds back to the islands with the opening of his first exhibition at Fibre Gallery, Between Tree and Tide.The exhibition was not built around a…

Pacific leaders are descending on the stunning Micronesian nation of Palau for the region’s most important political gathering.This year’s Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders meeting could be particularly politically charged and has already got off to a slightly tumultuous start.Palau is famous for its stunning karst landscape — with hundreds of rainforest-covered limestone islands — and for its powerful international advocacy on climate change.It is also one of Taiwan’s three remaining Pacific allies and a key link in the US military’s second island chain, which means that debates over Taipei’s role in the Pacific and China’s growing military might will…

A Cook Islander has taken home the Miss Oceania title for the second time, with Tiare Henry-Anguna crowned the Pacific regions continental queen at the Miss World finals in Vietnam.Henry-Anguna was among 111 contestants who spent a month competing in the 73rd edition of the international pageant, with the finals held on September 5th.The Dominican Republic’s Joheirry Mola was crowned Miss World, with the six continental queens announced alongside her.Henry-Anguna says winning the Oceania title is an achievement not just for the Cook Islands, but for the entire Pacific Islands region.”I feel so extremely blessed and grateful, coming from a…

The 55th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) summit, held this year in Palau, concluded on September 4. The event was marked by intense diplomatic pressure from the United States and its allies, Australia and New Zealand, which pressured the small island nations to issue a joint statement condemning a Chinese missile test conducted in the Pacific in July.55th Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting [Photo: Facebook/Pacific Islands Forum]When the 18-member PIF summit opened on August 30 the prime ministers of Fiji, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Vanuatu and Kiribati had all withdrawn, citing domestic politics, poor health and travel issues. Behind the withdrawals, however,…

The governments of Solomon Islands and America have signed an agreement to renew the US Peace Corps programme in the Solomons.A release from the Solomons government says Foreign Minister Rick Houenipwela signed the agreement in Honiara with the visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.Ethnic tensions in the Solomons around the year 2000 led to the suspension of the Peace Corps programme that had seen over 700 Americans serve in the country over nearly three decades.But now the Peace Corps Volunteers programme is set to resume in full.Houenipwela said the volunteers would contribute to the Solomons’ development priorities by…

KOROR, Palau (AP) — China warned of “consequences” for Taiwan after officials from Beijing and Taipei attended a ceremonial event at a Pacific leaders summit, where major powers already had been urged to restrain from turning a meeting of mostly small island countries into a geopolitical sideshow.The 18 member states and territories of the Pacific Islands Forum, which opened its annual summit in Palau’s largest city Koror on Monday, do not include China, the United States or Taiwan. However, battles for influence over the lucrative oceans and strategically important locations of the forum’s members this week threatened, as they have…

The focus for this year’s annual gathering of Pacific leaders and partners was always going to be about China.With the 55th annual meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) taking place last week in Palau, one of only 12 nations in the world that recognise Taiwan, there was always going to be the potential for mischief by China. As the leaders meeting came only a short time after a Chinese missile test in the Pacific, everyone was waiting to see the final communique or if there would even be one.China certainly tried every trick in the book to disrupt the…

Pacific nations are strengthening efforts to protect coral reefs that show a stronger chance of surviving climate change.Tonga, the Federated States of Micronesia and French Polynesia have joined a global conservation commitment.The three countries signed the High-Level Climate-Resilient Coral Reefs Commitment at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Palau last week.For Pacific communities, the push is about more than protecting coral.Reefs provide food, help protect coastlines and are closely tied to the identity and way of life of island communities.Tonga Prime Minister Lord Fatafehi Fakafanua says the reefs are facing growing pressure from climate change, pollution and overfishing.Watch Tonga’s…

For 20 years, West Papuan activist Paula Makabory has not set foot in her ancestral homeland. Her family still lives in West Papua, but she has not seen them since she left in 2006.Speaking to Pacific Waves from Melbourne, Makabory said she does not know what would happen if she attempted to return.West Papua activist responds to Indonesia’s UN visit pledgeAs Pacific leaders push Jakarta to allow a long-awaited United Nations human right commissioner visit to West Papua, Makabory, who is an executive member of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), said the leaders needed to apply more…