The Latest Breaking News from South Pacific

Honiara (AFP) - Chinese and Australian foreign ministers will launch duelling charm offensives in the South Pacific Thursday, as Beijing and the West jostle for influence in the strategically significant region.

New Zealand on Wednesday said it would extend the New Zealand Defence Force's deployment to the Solomon Islands until at least May next year, amid concerns among Western allies about China's growing presence in the South Pacific.

Wang Yi’s trip will take him to the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor

An active crater in the South Pacific – in which hammerhead and silky sharks have been found – is about to blow. Could this be a real-life sequel to the sci-fi hit Sharknado?

The war in Ukraine has moved New Zealand into closer alignment with its Western partners - but the election of a new Govt in Australia shows the needs for an independent NZ path in the Pacific.

A former Australian envoy to the Solomons Islands has accused Australia’s government of losing the trust of South Pacific island countries and of ushering in greater Chinese influence

A Chinese ambassador says China’s engagement with South Pacific island countries poses no threat to Australia, responding to fears that Beijing will establish a military foothold in the Solomon Islands

The security agreement between the Solomon Islands and China has put this strategic nation firmly in China's orbit as a client state.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne has met her Solomon Islands counterpart Jeremiah Manele for the first time since the South Pacific island nation signed a security pact with China

A Fiji court has ruled that the $300 million yacht allegedly owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov and seized by the United States must remain in Fiji for now.

Authorities in Fiji have seized the $300 million yacht of Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov after the US Justice Department requested the vessel be held for violating sanctions and for alleged ties to corruption, the department said Thursday. The five-year-old, 348-foot (106 meter) "Amadea" was berthed in Lautoka, Fiji in the…