Hints and tips:
...Bougainville lies between PNG’s mainland and the Solomon Islands, which has forged closer ties with China in the past two years including a security agreement....
...Mihai Sora, a former diplomat and research fellow at the Lowy Institute think-tank in Sydney, said the election could put further pressure on pan-Pacific unity....
...After Solomon Islands and Kiribati switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019 and Beijing inked a security deal with the Solomon Islands in 2022, the US sprung into action....
...His A$58mn pay packet last year was more than that earned in the same period by Dimon or David Solomon, chief executive of Goldman Sachs....
...“We respect the right of Solomon Islands to make sovereign decisions about its national security,” he added....
...Additional reporting by Nic Fildes in Sydney...
...Last year’s Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji focused on regional strategic competition between China and the US, which came to a head when the Solomon Islands signed a security pact with Beijing....
...The US has in recent months been reopening embassies in the region, from the Solomon Islands to Tonga, that had been closed for decades....
...Celebrations carried on into the night as 700 guests, who were flown to the company’s Solomon mine in the West Australian desert on charter flights, were treated to a light show, an oyster bar and a concert...
...Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan made $34.5mn in both of the past two years and Goldman Sach’s David Solomon was paid $25mn in 2022, 30 per cent less than the year before....
...The move comes against a backdrop of tension in the Pacific as the Solomon Islands signed a security pact with China last May which included police training and equipment measures....
...Woodside bought BHP’s lucrative former oil and gas assets last year while Santos solidified an A$21bn takeover of Sydney-based Oil Search in 2021....
...The Solomon Islands has banned US ships from visiting only three months after the Pacific island nation signed a security and economic pact with China....
...The Solomons, an archipelago located about 3,000km east of Sydney, has deepened ties with Beijing after switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019....
...It is the latest effort by Washington to boost ties with Pacific Islands nations after China shocked the US and its allies last year by signing a security pact with the Solomon Islands....
...Notably, Chinese aid did hold up in the Solomon Islands and Kiribati, which are the two countries in the region to have switched diplomatic allegiance to China from Taiwan....
...Canberra is also funding the construction of six towers in the Solomon Islands....
...The Solomon Islands received a total of $25mn in Chinese aid in 2019 and 2020, while Kiribati received $21mn in 2020 alone....
...He said there were few signs supporting that sort of population growth, such as a rise in illegal migration to Indonesia and the Solomon Islands, or a collapse in the education and hospital systems....
...The meeting came after China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands....
...John, thanks for joining us from Sydney. Could you start by telling us about the role that the People's Liberation Army plays and why it refers to these campaigns as political warfare?...
...“In the wake of the tensions we see rising, including in our Indo-Pacific region, diplomacy must become the strongest tool and de-escalation the loudest call,” she told the Lowy Institute think-tank in Sydney...
...Beijing’s security pact with Honiara comes in the wake of greater Chinese economic engagement with the Solomon Islands....
...The US, Australia, New Zealand and Japan were alarmed when China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands this year....
...“The Solomons deal has put those two things in direct conflict,” he said....
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