Pacific News Briefs

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he wants New Zealand to be a partner of choice in the Pacific, as other countries make moves in the region.

Christopher Luxon is in Niue ahead of bilateral talks with Premier Dalton Tagalagi, and to celebrate 50 years of free association between the two countries.

Niue is self-governing, but part of New Zealand's realm. Its citizens are NZ citizens, and New Zealand provides it with aid when asked.

Luxon said it was special to make Niue the first Pacific Island nation he has visited since taking office.

"I think the relationship’s in good heart. I think there's a lot more for us to do together," Luxon said.

The Speaker of Niue's Assembly Hima Douglas said the relationship had given Niue peace, security and tranquility.

"When we look back, Prime Minister, we could not have asked for a better country to look after Niue. We could not have asked for a better development partner," he said.

(RNZ Pacific)

DOJ POLICY ANNOUNCEMENT

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced a department-wide policy to reject the racist and “repugnant” language of the Insular Cases—a move welcomed by civil rights advocates, but met with “cautious optimism” by Vice Speaker Tina Barnes of the Guam legislature.

In a letter to House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva—who led a bipartisan, 43-member congressional group last year to ask the DOJ to expressly condemn the Insular Cases—Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte said the DOJ “emphatically agrees…that the racist language and logic of the Insular Cases deserve no place in our law.”

The Insular Cases are a series of early 1900s Supreme Court decisions that denied the overseas U.S. territories democracy and self-determination based on the Supreme Court’s judgment that their residents were “alien races” and “savage tribes.” 

Uriarte’s letter states that the DOJ “unequivocally condemns the racist rhetoric and reasoning of the Insular Cases, and unambiguously shares your view that such reasoning and rhetoric are irreconcilable with foundational American principles of equality, justice, and democracy.”

In line with this, Uriarte said DOJ litigators will no longer rely on the racist rhetoric and reasoning of the Insular Cases.

Barnes, however, only expressed cautious optimism, describing the DOJ move as largely symbolic because the department “has made it clear” it will continue to support the foundational legal arguments of the Insular Cases: that the U.S. Constitution does not fully apply to America's territories, those who were born in a territory, and eventual residents of territories. 

A DOJ news release said it sent identical letters to the other congressional members who signed on to Grijalva’s letter, as well as to U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr.

(Pacific Islands Times)

PACIFIC ISLANDERS IN HOLLYWOOD

Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans comprised less than 6% of the speaking roles and less than 4% of leads and co-leads in Hollywood files between 2007-2019, according to a 2021 study across more than 1,000 popular films. 

Spurred on by the desire to see more people of the Pacific move into the industry, Dana is co-founder of the Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti (PEAK), a non-profit aimed at elevating the voices and stories of Pacific people in and beyond Hollywood.

As part of Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, PEAK kicked off celebrating Pasifika women in entertainment with Cravalho, producer Naomi Scott, and RuPaul's Drag Race winner Sasha Colby for a panel discussion.

"We're building a network other people have had for generations," she said.

"I don't want to be here alone. That's a big reason why I helped start PEAK … I found myself very much alone … I realized I was pushing forward but people weren't coming with me.

(ABCnet.au)

MISSILE DEFENSE TRIALS

The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is giving the people of Guam 30 days for public consultation on a decade-long proposal to test missile defenses at Guam.

The US territory of Guam is key location for US forces to respond to crises in the Indo-Pacific.

The intention is to launch two test flights per year for the next ten years.

According to KUAM News landowners along the boundaries of Andersen Air Force Base in Yigo are being given notice and time to provide public comment.

"This comes after the Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency notified the administration on a proposed final environmental assessment and proposed finding of no significant impact to conduct up to two flight tests or tracking exercises," the news outlet reported.

Electronic submissions for the missile defense trials at Guam opened June 3, and run until July 2.

The most recent proposals to increase Guam's missile defense came under the Biden administration in 2022, which cited the defense of Guam against missile threats from China as a motivating factor for a $892 million investment.

(RNZ Pacific)

ARMS FOR NEW CALEDONIA POLICE

The police in New Caledonia have a new weapon in their arsenal - state of the art trucks with machine guns, flown in from France to take control of the law and order situation following the violent unrest.

The state of emergency was lifted in the territory last week but a security force of more than 3000 could remain until after the Paris Olympics.

The Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories Gérald Darmanin said via social media platform X that the vehicles, known as Centaur, can also fire tear gas.

"These armored vehicles will help the police put an end to all roadblocks and completely re-establish public order in the archipelago," Darmanin said.

"In the event of more serious threats, such as a terrorist attack, which would involve the use of armed force, the Centaur may be equipped with a 7.62 remotely operated machine gun."

He said the off road vehicles can carry up to ten people and fire tear gas from a turret to disperse violent individuals or keep them at bay.

A journalist on the ground, Coralie Cochin, told RNZ Pacific things are far from calm in the suburbs, despite official reports that law and order is being restored on the outskirts of Nouméa.

"The police fought with protesters who had just erected a roadblock and set fire to it in my street today," Cochin said, who lives in the northern suburb of Dubea.

"People fear for their houses. I have got friends who had to escape from their burning properties who have been left with nothing."

She said people are divided over whether the Centaur will change anything.

"The Kanak people are afraid, they are wondering why the police have machine guns when all they have to fight with is stones," Cochin said.

Others believe the Centaur are essential to crush roadblocks and protect property, but attempts to eradicate them completely are so far proving futile.

"As soon as they are removed, pro-Independence protesters put them back up again. It's like a game of cat and mouse," she said.

France has also decided to go ahead with the European elections in New Caledonia on Sunday, despite political tensions in the territory.

New Caledonia's High Commissioner Louis Le Franc said in a statement that voting material has arrived and preparations are under way to transport it to polling stations.

Le Franc said a curfew will remain in place from 6pm to 6am until the day after the elections, as well as a ban on the sale of guns and alcohol.

He said Nouméa's international airport will remain closed until further notice, while the situation is "normalized".

(RNZ Pacific)

CNMI AIR SERVICE

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce official emphasized that 12 daily flights is the barebones minimum just to keep the CNMI tourism industry's head above water,

Officials in the Northern Mariana Islands are crying out for more international flights to land in the nation, to help keep its struggling tourism industry and the economy afloat.

Saipan Chamber of Commerce director Ron Smith said a minimum of 12 international flights need to be arriving daily.

The Chamber official emphasized the 12 daily flights is the barebones minimum just to keep not only the CNMI tourism industry's head above water, but the Commonwealth economy in general, which is pretty much dependent on visitor arrivals.

"These direct flights will allow us to recover a little bit and you can see some of the other statistics in regard to Chinese visitors and how important they are.

"For 40 percent down to 3 percent that is accounting for a large percentage of the current drop that we've seen, so regardless of where it's from, we don't really have a preference, but we need a third market and it's got to be a robust one.

"It's got to provide us with bringing 200,000-300,000 visitors per year," he said.

Visitor numbers are down by 54 percent when compared with 2017.

RNZ Pacific's Northern Marianas correspondent Mark Rabago said the pandemic is partly to blame for the drop in tourists.

"We were essentially shut for the majority of the year no tourists, and then because China also shut down our number of tourists went away...until now we basically do not have any flights from China.

"And what Chinese tourists we have are travellers that go via Japan or Korea to come here." he said

Rabago said it is critical more flights start coming.

"It's very important as it's the only industry that we have, if there is no tourists coming into the CNMI there will be no business and it will be a ghost town in a few years." he said.

Businesses are already feeling the impacts, with Hyatt Regency Saipan shutting on June 30 after more than 30 years, due to low visitor numbers.

Meanwhile, the country's Hotel Association NMI (HANMI) board vice chairperson Ivan Quichocho told the Saipan Tribune it is an urgent situation for the sector.

He said there's only one way to improve the hotel occupancy-through more flights and more tourists

"We just talked about what's not coming. And we just talked about the effort to try and get us to the base number of flights that we had last year without the additional Guam diversions and that's already a struggle."

Quichocho said the average room rate for April was dropping by $10 compared with April 2023, and HANMI members are making less money with low average room occupancy at 35 percent.

(RNZ Pacific)