https://www.scmp.com/rss/505787/feed Joshua Mcdonald is a freelance multimedia journalist based in Melbourne, Australia. He focuses primarily on international security, politics and health in the Asia-Pacific region. He has previously worked as a correspondent in Central America and The Middle East. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com George Seda, a 31-year-old musician living in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, described the last few days on the Pacific island nation as like “walking through hell”. “There was nothing but fear, hunger, and terror,” Seda said, referring to the riots which broke out last Wednesday after protesters stormed the parliament and set fire to buildings and shops, leading to the deaths of three and the arrests of dozens, according to local media. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare declared a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3157781/us-china-struggle-behind-solomon-islands-riots-or-just-icing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3157781/us-china-struggle-behind-solomon-islands-riots-or-just-icing?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Nov 2021 23:00:17 +0000 When Papua New Guinea politician Dame Meg Taylor ended her term as leader of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in March, she sounded an alarm to the 18 nations and territories, including Australia and New Zealand, that are part of the political grouping. The islands, lobbed into a geographic area the US calls the “Indo-Pacific”, were “all of a sudden [being] defined by people who are great military powers, who have no consideration for the peoples in the region, or our governments”, she said. This... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3138486/pacific-islands-fear-fallout-us-and-china-jostle-geopolitical?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3138486/pacific-islands-fear-fallout-us-and-china-jostle-geopolitical?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Jun 2021 21:00:14 +0000 Australian property stylist Ali Waight thought she had a mosquito bite when a red welt appeared on her left leg in early 2018. But within days, the mark had “developed into a massive hole”. What followed was almost a year of fatigue and misery for the 45-year-old, who lives in the coastal town of Point Lonsdale, an hour’s drive south from Melbourne. “I wasn’t allowed to play with my three kids, I wasn’t allowed to go swimming, go to work, ride my bike, walk the dogs, I couldn’t even walk. It... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3129020/rise-flesh-eating-ulcers-australias-victoria-state?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3129020/rise-flesh-eating-ulcers-australias-victoria-state?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Apr 2021 00:00:21 +0000 Last year, as thousands of New Zealanders lost their jobs amid the Covid-19 pandemic, real estate agent Shane Robinson – who is based in the country’s seventh-biggest city, Dunedin – was busier than ever. “It was completely unprecedented. I’ve been in the industry for 15 years and I’d never seen anything like this. The housing market obviously dipped when we first went into lockdown [in March last year], but it came back so much faster than it went down [after the country was declared free of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3127026/kiwis-are-behind-new-zealands-runaway-house-prices-not-buyers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3127026/kiwis-are-behind-new-zealands-runaway-house-prices-not-buyers?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Mar 2021 22:00:19 +0000 A political grouping of Pacific island countries that control resource-rich oceans in an area where Australia, the US and China are all jostling for influence has been left bitterly divided, with five of its members in the midst of abandoning the group. The five countries on Tuesday released a signed communique confirming their withdrawal from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). Analysts said confirmation of their departure from the group, which also includes Australia and New Zealand, will have... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3121067/rift-among-pacific-islands-deals-blow-regional-unity-stokes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3121067/rift-among-pacific-islands-deals-blow-regional-unity-stokes?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Feb 2021 21:18:21 +0000 When reports first emerged last year that China Mobile – the country’s largest state-owned telecoms company – was keen to buy Digicel, the biggest mobile carrier in the Pacific islands, the move was seen as being of serious security concern to Australia. Analysts say it not only fuelled Canberra’s worries that the Pacific nations were growing more dependent on China and moving away from their historical Western partners, but also raised the fear that if Digicel were owned by a firm so closely... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3119911/china-looks-buy-telecoms-assets-pacific-islands-can-australia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3119911/china-looks-buy-telecoms-assets-pacific-islands-can-australia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Jan 2021 21:00:08 +0000 An investigation into Fiji’s attorney general over a murder case that went cold has brought the divisions between the country’s ethnic Indian residents and indigenous population back into the spotlight. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, one of the South Pacific’s most powerful men, is being investigated in connection with fatal twin bomb attacks that happened in the capital of Suva in the aftermath of the 1987 military coup that deposed the first government formed by the Indo-Fijian-dominated National... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3113899/bomb-attack-claims-against-fijis-attorney-general-stoke-racial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3113899/bomb-attack-claims-against-fijis-attorney-general-stoke-racial?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Dec 2020 07:00:14 +0000 While Chinese nationals used to make up the bulk of applicants for New Zealand’s so-called golden Investor Visa, they have been overtaken by Americans between April and October this year, with US citizens accounting for close to half of applications amid the Covid-19 pandemic and political uncertainty across the United States. During the same period last year, Americans accounted for just 3 per cent of applications while Chinese applicants made up 43 per cent of the group, according to data from... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3109576/one-us-china-battle-americans-have-taken-lead-golden?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3109576/one-us-china-battle-americans-have-taken-lead-golden?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Nov 2020 21:00:15 +0000 Australia’s second-biggest city of Melbourne emerged from a 112-day coronavirus lockdown on Wednesday into something approaching normality, though the months-long forced closure has hurt many businesses and tested residents’ resolve. Sang Lee was among those who relished the opportunity to blow off some steam, going to an “end of lockdown party” at a popular bar in the city to ring in 11.59pm on Tuesday, when restrictions were officially lifted. “The vibe was electric. Everyone was giddy and had... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3107475/coronavirus-melbourne-parties-112-day-lockdown-ends?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3107475/coronavirus-melbourne-parties-112-day-lockdown-ends?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Oct 2020 22:00:29 +0000 The Pacific island of New Caledonia, home to 270,000 people, is slated to hold its second referendum on independence from France this weekend, amid bids for self-government in a region that has become a focus of geopolitical rivalry among the United States, China and Australia and has been late to the decolonisation process. The former penal colony, which is reliant on Paris for about US$1.5 billion in funding annually, has an agreement with France for up to three referendums – each held two... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3103562/chinas-shadow-looms-new-caledonia-decides-whether-leave-france?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3103562/chinas-shadow-looms-new-caledonia-decides-whether-leave-france?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Sep 2020 21:00:20 +0000 With economic activity around the world taking a hammering from Covid-19, conservationists had hoped for a respite in the global shark-fishing industry. But a spate of record-breaking confiscations and expanding markets in Asia show there is still an appetite for shark fins – one that is taking a toll on underwater ecosystems and fishing communities in the region. In April, the Hong Kong authorities seized 13 tonnes ofsmuggled shark fins, mostly from endangered species. A few days later, they... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3100326/why-shark-fin-trade-buoyant-while-covid-19-sinks-global-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3100326/why-shark-fin-trade-buoyant-while-covid-19-sinks-global-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Sep 2020 01:00:21 +0000 International travel is banned for most Australians. Only members of government and airline and maritime crew are permitted to leave, while rare exceptions are granted for medical or compassionate reasons. All things considered, Australians’ movements have never been so restricted. That’s why Australian and Papua New Guinean officials were stunned last week when an Australian man presented himself at the Australian embassy in Port Moresby bruised, disoriented and without good reason for being... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3098392/australias-drug-habit-booms-asias-el-chapo-has-coronavirus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3098392/australias-drug-habit-booms-asias-el-chapo-has-coronavirus?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Aug 2020 23:30:13 +0000 US and Australian officials have been quick to express outrage over an image shared on social media showing the Chinese ambassador to the Pacific island nation of Kiribati walking across the backs of locals lying face down on the ground. Commander Constantine Panayiotou, the US defense attaché to Kiribati, tweeted: “I simply cannot imagine any scenario in which walking on the backs of children is acceptable behavior by an ambassador of any country (or any adult for that matter).” But many in... https://www.scmp.com/politics/did-chinese-diplomat-tread-toes-walking-locals-backs-kiribati/article/3098301?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/politics/did-chinese-diplomat-tread-toes-walking-locals-backs-kiribati/article/3098301?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Aug 2020 11:16:26 +0000 Earlier this week, US and Australian officials were quick to express incredulity and outrage over an image shared on social media showing the Chinese ambassador to Kiribati walking across the backs of locals lying face down on the ground after he arrived on Marakei Island. Commander Constantine Panayiotou, the US defence attaché to five Pacific Islands including Kiribati, took to Twitter to say: “I simply cannot imagine any scenario in which walking on the backs of children is acceptable... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3098125/chinese-diplomat-pictured-walking-locals-backs-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3098125/chinese-diplomat-pictured-walking-locals-backs-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Aug 2020 21:00:13 +0000 Australia’s property market, like many others around the world, has been hit by the coronavirus-induced economic downturn. But for its two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, Covid-19 is only part of the problem. In these cities, a mix of stresses that include falling immigration, disparities in supply and demand and a decline in foreign investment due in part to tensions between Beijing and Canberra, are fuelling fears that the worst is yet to come. For the past two decades, Australia has... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3093699/loss-chinese-buyers-final-straw-australias-property-market?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3093699/loss-chinese-buyers-final-straw-australias-property-market?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Jul 2020 22:00:16 +0000 As the relationship between Canberra and Beijing sours, distrust of China and concerns about drought and water shortages have fuelled talk that China is buying up Australia’s water sources with malicious intent. Water first became a tradeable commodity in some parts of Australia in the 1980s, but over the years the market has grown into an industry worth A$3 billion (US$2.08 billion) a year – the largest of its kind in the world. In Australia, Earth’s driest inhabited continent, landowning... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3092733/china-really-buying-all-australias-water-or-are-these-claims?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3092733/china-really-buying-all-australias-water-or-are-these-claims?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Jul 2020 22:00:11 +0000 Deep in the Australian desert, the world’s largest solar farm is being built. Its aim is ambitious: much of the power generated will be exported 3,800km to Singapore via a high-voltage, direct current submarine cable slung across the sea floor. The farm, estimated to cost at least A$20 billion (US$13.7 billion), will have an array of 10-gigawatt solar panels spread across 15,000 hectares and will be supported by a 22GWh storage plant. Sun Cable, the Singapore firm behind the project, hopes it... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3091790/could-us14-billion-australian-solar-farm-provide-fifth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3091790/could-us14-billion-australian-solar-farm-provide-fifth?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Jul 2020 22:10:08 +0000 New Zealand has for years been known as a desirable destination for global business, with the World Bank ranking it first out of 190 countries for ease of doing business every year since 2017. Its appeal may be set to grow further, after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in April announced that New Zealand had become the first place in the world to contain the coronavirus pandemic. The country is finding itself atop the list for global firms seeking to expand and for people looking to emigrate,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3087598/chinese-investors-seek-coronavirus-haven-new-zealand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3087598/chinese-investors-seek-coronavirus-haven-new-zealand?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Jun 2020 00:30:15 +0000 Calls are mounting for Australia and New Zealand to allow their Pacific neighbours into the “Trans Tasman bubble” they are setting up to kick-start economic activity, with proponents saying it will ensure they remain in the game as Chinese influence expands in the region. The arrangement would allow for freer movement of people and goods and Australian MP Dave Sharma, a close ally of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, opined last week that the “Trans-Tasman bubble doesn’t go far enough … We look out... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3085104/coronavirus-australia-new-zealand-travel-bubble-fiji?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3085104/coronavirus-australia-new-zealand-travel-bubble-fiji?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 May 2020 23:00:15 +0000 Should the Australian government do more to support international students suffering economic hardship during the Covid-19 pandemic? That’s the debate that has arisen after the state of Victoria last week went against the federal government’s stance by pledging A$45 million (US$28.85 million) in relief payments to international students. Victoria’s International Student Emergency Relief Fund will provide a payment of up to A$1,100 for “vulnerable international students who have lost their job or... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3082813/australias-economy-needs-international-students-can-it-do-more?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3082813/australias-economy-needs-international-students-can-it-do-more?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 May 2020 22:30:11 +0000