Australia’s 2020 Defence Strategic Update was, by the standards of such publications, a hard-hitting document. It had a particularly strong focus on grey… Read More

Regional trade and economic meetings The trade and economic officials and ministers of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) members met last week. The ongoing impacts… Read More

The first national leader to congratulate Joe Biden on his election as US President was Fiji’s Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama. There was little doubt what… Read More

Indonesia is currently experiencing a massive spike in COVID-19 infection and deaths, as experts (including myself) have unfortunately been predicting. The country recorded its largest… Read More

Predicting Myanmar’s future has always been a risky business. It opened up to academics, journalists and others after the abortive 1988 pro-democracy uprising, but there… Read More

Fiji COVID-19 crisis The COVID-19 crisis in Fiji continues to dominate the news in that country. The outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant… Read More

Vanuatu’s court of appeal will sit today to decide the political fate of the prime minister, Bob Loughman, and 18 other MPs. The supreme court… Read More

The rapid dismemberment of Hong Kong’s lively and internationally facing culture points to a bigger story. That is, that the same suspicious attitude to the… Read More

PALM 9 Last week, the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum met with the Prime Minister of Japan and other government officials for the… Read More

On 1 February 2021, Myanmar’s military seized control of the country and detained State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint,… Read More