New Zealand is considering joining a defense alliance signed by Australia and Fiji, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday.
The Ocean of Peace Alliance elevated Fiji to one of Australia’s few treaty allies and binds each nation to come to the other’s “mutual defense.”
The pact came as Canberra attempts to outmaneuver China in the South Pacific. It was signed on Monday hours before Beijing’s test of a long-range nuclear-capable missile that landed in the Pacific Ocean.
Photo: Reuters
Australia and Fiji said that other Pacific countries with militaries can join the alliance.
“Fiji and Australia this week announced a commitment to become military allies, and New Zealand welcomes this,” Luxon said. “New Zealand and Australia share a close bond with a military alliance that continues to go from strength to strength, and we also have a strong and enduring relationship with Fiji.”
“We already work with both countries on how we can develop a safer region for all, so engaging with them on this alliance is logical,” he said.
New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters, who described China’s ballistic missile test as “deeply concerning,” said that Pacific leaders have long sought a Pacific-led response to regional security issues.
“Elevating our long-standing relationship with Australia and Fiji — and other Pacific nations — to the next level through an alliance would mean we become even closer partners,” Peters said.
New Zealand Minister of Defence Chris Penk said it would be an “opportunity to grow Pacific unity.”
Peters on Monday said that China’s missile test went against the wishes of Pacific nations, who he said “have been clear we do not want to see the region become a theater for outside military competition.”
“This launch is not consistent with regional stability and peace in the South Pacific,” he said, adding that it “now seems to be a recurring pattern by China.”
New Zealand’s Defence Force privately warned that Beijing’s naval forays and ballistic missile tests would become a “persistent” feature of the Pacific, an internal document showed.
A skyscraper-scaling daredevil told police that he and his girlfriend climbed the Empire State Building’s antenna and unfurled a banner about love and peace, because he wanted to “do something special” for their engagement, US prosecutors said on Thursday at the couple’s arraignment on felony reckless endangerment, burglary and other charges. The couple, who go by Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, said little as they left court, but Beerkus responded to a journalist’s question about the stunt by saying: “We believe in love.” Authorities said the two — who were the subject of the 2024 Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love
Ukraine is looking for ways to lower tension with Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday, adding that Poland’s neighbor to the east should come to terms with its history to join the EU. Diplomatic relations between the neighbours entered their worst crisis since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine after Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Poland’s top honor. Nawrocki said he took the step due to the naming of an army unit after insurgents who massacred Poles in World War Two. Tusk, a political opponent of Nawrocki, has been trying to smooth
CLIMATE CHANGE: The El Nino weather pattern could boost global heat in the oceans and atmosphere even further this year and next year, scientists say People in Guam and the Northern Marianas hunkered down yesterday as the second “super typhoon” to hit the US Pacific territories since April approached with the equivalent of category-5 hurricane winds. Bavi was several hundred kilometers east of the archipelago with sustained winds of 259kph, and gusts of 314kph, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) said in an update yesterday morning. “Current forecast tracks continue to indicate a grim outlook for the Marianas,” the US National Weather Service said. “All residents across Guam and the [Northern Mariana Islands] should plan for and anticipate at least tropical storm conditions.” The
A Philippine senator and key ally of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte was charged with graft yesterday, the country’s ombudsman said, days before Duterte’s Senate impeachment trial is to begin. The charges against Philippine Senator Rodante Marcoleta, tied to his alleged failure to declare US$1.2 million in unused election campaign funds, include plunder, a non-bailable offense which involves corruption of 50 million pesos (US$814,000) or more. The decision to file charges was not “made lightly or by choice,” the ombudsman’s office said in a statement. “The evidence includes three cash donations totalling 75 million pesos, undeclared in the senator’s [statement of assets
RSS