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Micronesia

The latest news, analysis and opinion on Micronesia. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.

Capital

Palikir

Head of State

President Wesley Simina

Head of Government

President Wesley Simina

A screen showing stock prices at the end of the trading day on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on April 4, 2025. World financial markets are continuing to react to reciprocal tariffs that US President Donald Trump implemented. Photo: EPA-EFE

US-China trade war

My Take | The United States, not China, turns out to be the real bogeyman

The significance of Trump’s tariffs is that they have destroyed the credibility of America on which its global alliances have long depended.

6 Apr 2025 - 9:00PM

United States

My Take | Donald Trump’s tariff madness targets not only allies but animals

4 Apr 2025 - 9:00PM

Japan

Japan talks with Pacific islands focus on climate, security issues take back seat

20 Jul 2024 - 1:45PMvideocam

Israel-Gaza war

My Take | International court prosecutor rises to historic occasion

In applying for arrest warrants for top leaders of Israel and Hamas, Karim Khan of the International Criminal Court has stood up for global justice and international law against the manipulated so-called rules-based order.

21 May 2024 - 9:00PM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel, on December 24, 2023. Photo: AP

Australia

My Take | Playing defence Mini-Me for the US will cost Australia dearly

The complaint by Canberra about the latest Chinese military flare-up close to China’s coast is not only hypocritical but highly escalatory.

10 May 2024 - 9:00PM

US-China relations

Asian nations take steps to cope with geopolitical concern amid US-China rivalry

In this week’s issue of the Global Impact newsletter, we look at how Asian nations have been making moves with an eye on the ever evolving relationship between China and the United States.

6 May 2024 - 2:00PMvideocam

Pacific nations

Solomon Islands ‘locks in’ China ties with another pro-Beijing prime minister

New prime minister Jeremiah Manele is expected to apply a “lighter touch” to ties with Beijing given the demand for greater transparency.

3 May 2024 - 11:12PMvideocam

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shakes hands with Solomon Islands then Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele at an event in Beijing in 2019. Manele has been chosen as the Solomons’ new prime minister. Photo: Reuters

Japan

To counter growing Chinese presence, Japan coastguard to train Pacific nations

The Mobile Cooperation Team initiative was first set up in 2017 as part of Tokyo’s efforts to train and equip the coastguards of Southeast Asian nations that felt threatened by China’s presence.

23 Apr 2024 - 1:16PMvideocam

Pacific nations

‘Calling for change’: will Solomon Islands lean closer to China after its polls?

Geopolitics looms large over the polls in Solomon Islands, where Beijing and Washington have been vying for influence for years. But for voters just struggling to make ends meet, Wednesday’s election may be decided by issues much closer to home.

17 Apr 2024 - 10:49AMvideocam

China’s military

Will China’s fourth aircraft carrier steer towards troubled waters in Asia?

The US Navy has an edge over its Chinese counterparts in terms of firepower and access to its supply bases in the region, analysts say.

31 Mar 2024 - 9:30AMvideocam

China’s Shandong aircraft carrier is seen docked at a naval port in Sanya, Hainan province, in 2019. Photo: Xinhua via AP

US-China relations

A US governor in the Pacific plans ‘lonely’ pivot away from China

Long tied to Beijing for tourism and gambling income, Northern Mariana Islands needs more aid from Washington, says governor.

28 Mar 2024 - 10:41AMvideocam

Tourism

Palau luxury cruise, for dazzling coral, white sand beaches, and war relics

The coral islands of Palau in the western Pacific are best visited by boat, and catamaran Four Seasons Explorer offers a new option for visitors to a nation with conservation in its constitution.

25 Mar 2024 - 6:31PMvideocam

US-China relations

Guam’s defence is top priority in Pacific amid China military inroads: Pentagon

Congress hears plea for more funding, speed and capability to protect strategically vital American territory as PLA enhances its missile technology.

22 Mar 2024 - 4:34AMvideocam

Pacific nations

Warily eyeing China’s influence, US talks up US$7.1 billion in Pacific aid

Leaders in the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau had warned that delays could have forced their governments to cut services, and swayed public opinion towards offers of investment from China.

20 Mar 2024 - 3:53PMvideocam

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets (from left) Marshall Islands Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Jack Ading, Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jnr and Micronesia’s President Wesley Simina (right) in September last year. Photo: AP

US-China relations

US knew Nauru might cut ties to Taiwan before it did, official says

Daniel Kritenbrink, an assistant secretary of state, tells Senate hearing ‘we had known for some time [of Nauru’s concerns] … in this instance, they decided to flip’.

15 Mar 2024 - 7:59AM

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) and his Nauru counterpart Lionel Aingimea shake hands after signing the joint communique on the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and Nauru in Beijing on January 24. Photo: AP

Japan

Japan may be making its biggest security move in the Pacific Islands since WWII

Talks on March 19 are expected to involve Japan’s Self-Defence Forces and police taking part in local and regional responses as well as training.

13 Mar 2024 - 2:22PM

Pacific nations

US Senate passes funds for Pacific island nations after congressional delays

Deals for Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau, intended to counter China’s influence in the region, win passage as part of appropriations package.

9 Mar 2024 - 9:12AMvideocam

Pacific nations

House Republicans add Pacific nations deals to bill ‘countering Communist China’

A federal budget impasse has hindered funding for the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau as Beijing deepens ties in the strategically vital region.

1 Mar 2024 - 8:04AMvideocam

US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, speaks during a news conference with House Republican leadership in Washington on Thursday. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

Pacific nations

US’ funding deadlock may pave the way for more Chinese influence in the Pacific

The lack of urgency is causing alarm inside the United States among those hyper-aware of the speed at which China may step in while Congress dawdles over a small sum of money by aid standards.

21 Feb 2024 - 7:38PM

US-China relations

Palau president raises threat of pivot to Beijing if US aid is delayed further

In letter to US senator, President Surangel Whipps Jnr writes that local leaders want to gain more financial aid from Beijing ‘at the cost of shifting alliances, beginning with sacrificing Taiwan’.

16 Feb 2024 - 9:55AMvideocam

Pacific nations

US still seeks delayed Pacific funds amid China push in region: senior diplomat

‘Critically important to continue to work’ in support of Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau, all omitted from US$95 billion foreign aid package.

15 Feb 2024 - 7:30AMvideocam

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (centre right) meets with (from left) Marshall Islands Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Jack Ading, Palauan President Surangel Whipps, Jnr and Micronesian President Wesley Simina at the State Department in Washington on Sept. 26. Photo: AP

Taiwan election 2024

‘What’s next’ as China’s Pacific island diplomatic wins mount?

After Nauru’s diplomatic switch from Taipei, experts are watching for shifts in regional security, balance of power.

4 Feb 2024 - 4:01PMvideocam

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, and Nauru’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Lionel Aingimea shake hands after signing a joint communique on the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and Nauru at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing last month. Photo: AP

Trending in China

New discovery suggests first Austronesian people inhabited area beyond Taiwan

Archaeologists discovered evidence of a very early Austronesian society on an island off the coast of China, expanding original ideas about where they lived.

23 Dec 2023 - 2:00PM

Pacific nations

Pacific islands need US funds else China war more likely: Micronesia ex-leader

War between Beijing and Washington ‘may become imminent and may become inevitable’ without American lawmakers’ approval of deals, says David Panuelo.

13 Dec 2023 - 3:50AMvideocam

United States

My Take | How Western allies subvert international law and norms to ‘contain’ China

The US has been ruthlessly militarising what some Pentagon strategists have called the island chains of defence in the Indo-Pacific with quiet ‘Five Eyes’ help.

4 Dec 2023 - 9:00PM

Fighter jets of the United States and Philippines fly over the South China Sea during joint maritime and air patrols between the two countries on November 21, 2023. Photo: AFP

US-China relations

Exclusive | ‘Nations can look elsewhere’: Micronesia ex-leader urges US to keep funds pledge

‘Competing powers in the region’ want to see trust in the US fail, former Micronesian president David Panuelo warns in interview with the Post.

2 Dec 2023 - 9:28PMvideocam

David Panuelo, whose four-year term as president of the Federated States of Micronesia ended in May, says the funding situation has put his country “in a very awkward position”. Photo: EPA-EFE

Pacific nations

Solomon Islands hosts China-funded Pacific Games amid big-power rivalry

Solomon Islands’ PM Manasseh Sogavare has alarmed the West with his pro-Beijing engagement and increasingly authoritarian reflexes. He told This Week in Asia that Honiara’s ties with China ‘were never better’.

21 Nov 2023 - 12:14PM

Australia

Tuvalu gets climate win in new Australia pact, but it comes with a ‘trade-off’

Security and defence conditions in the two countries’ upgraded partnership mean Tuvalu may have to ‘surrender some sovereignty’ as Australia keeps an eye on China’s activities in the region.

13 Nov 2023 - 7:00PM

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