NZ ups its diplomatic presence in Pacific

Winston Peters Photo: New Zealand Herald/Jason Oxenham Richard Butler | RNZ | 4 Dec 2018 New Zealand foreign affairs minister Winston Peters says New Zealand is to create 14 new diplomatic posts as part of its so called ‘Pacific Reset’. The reset aims...

Tourism growth could expand to unforeseen numbers

Richard Butler | Island Life | 23 Nov 2018 The tourism industries of SPTO member countries will benefit from the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) through the promotion of the China Pacific Tourism Year 2019 (CPTY). This was announced by President Xi Jinping on Friday...

Tonga and Vanuatu join China’s Belt and Road

Richard Butler| from RNZ  |  20 November 2018 Tonga and Vanuatu have signed up to China’s Belt and Road initiative. The announcements came on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Papua New Guinea last week. Tonga’s memorandum of understanding on Belt and Road was...

China: Come of age?

Richard Butler | Xinhua | Aug 17th 2018 CHINA finally seems to have completed its coming of age, and now has the power and money to disrupt diplomatic relations around the world. After decades of taking its neighbours for granted, Australia is starting to wake up to...