After months of strict COVID-19 lockdowns and resolutely closed borders, Fiji is open — for billionaires.
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has announced that the country is looking to attract “VIPs” to help restore Fiji’s paralyzed tourism-dependent economy.
“So, say you’re a billionaire looking to fly your own jet, rent your own island, and invest millions of dollars in Fiji in the process. If you’ve taken all the necessary health precautions and borne all associated costs, you may have a new home to escape the pandemic in paradise,” the prime minister said in a remarkably frank tweet.
Photo: AFP
Bainimarama said the country would also welcome travelers arriving by yacht who were prepared to spend 14 days at sea — or make up the balance in quarantine in Fiji.
Fijian Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has said that the first planeload of 30 “high-net-worth individuals ... from a very well-known company” were yesterday set to arrive by private plane in the archipelago nation.
“We already have one group coming,” Sayed-Khaiyum said during a national budget consultation. “We just did the approval ... for the flight to come in, and they’ll be spending three months here. There’s about 30 of them, and a very well-known company they are coming from.”
“They are coming in their private jet, and then they get on the seaplane, and then they go to the island and they stay there for three months. From our perspective, this is a balance between managing our health risk and also opening up the economic pathways; it’s critically important to do that,” he said.
It is not known from which country — or company — the group was coming.
Fiji has had only 18 confirmed cases of COVID-19, none fatal, and there have been no cases for three weeks.
However, there are fears, should the virus take hold, the country’s limited public health infrastructure could be quickly overwhelmed.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was