By Takahiro Motegi — Papua New Guinea (PNG) turned down the United States, Japan, and Australia in November 2018, when they offered to build a submarine cable network connecting PNG to the global network. The offer was expected to be…
By Michael Green & Zack Cooper – The Australian Defence White Paper was a long time coming, but it was worth the wait. From an American perspective, the White Paper is a carefully crafted document that will leave many in…
By Ben Schaare Though the Pacific Islands are envisaged as idyllic paradises insulated from high politics, many are facing internal troubles that could see the region become a new “arc of instability” for Australia, New Zealand, and the United States…
Who is he? John Momis is the president of the autonomous region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. A former Catholic priest, he became active in politics in the 1970s, and helped write PNG’s constitution. Momis has been deputy prime…
By Gregory Poling Ongoing troubles in the West Papua region, and the unwanted attention they have garnered, are a sore spot for Indonesian authorities. They undermine the larger narrative of an Indonesia finally at peace with itself, consolidating its democracy…
CSIS Sumitro Chair Senior Fellow Murray Hiebert talks with Deborah Elms, Executive Director of the Asia Trade Center in Singapore, about the status of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the future of trade integration in the Asia Pacific. Then CSIS Sumitro…
By Gregory Poling Fijian prime minister Voreqe “Frank” Bainimarama on May 6 reiterated that he will not attend any Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders’ meetings as long as Australia and New Zealand remain full members, rather than development partners like…
$960 million The amount allocated in Australia’s 2014-15 budget for aid to Pacific Island countries in U.S. dollars. This represents around 20 percent of Australia’s overall aid budget and makes it the single largest donor in the region, accounting for…
By Benjamin Schaare Australia has tried many solutions to stop asylum seekers from entering its territory illegally. In the past few months, the Australian and Cambodian governments have been in talks to resettle a number of asylum seekers currently held…
By Ashlee Betteridge Countries in the Asia Pacific have been the biggest beneficiaries of the doubling of Australia’s aid budget in the past decade. However the change of government last year, from the Labor Party to a Liberal-National coalition, has…
