Pacific News In Brief For 20 May
An army officer overseeing plans for a 360-degree missile system for Guam says it will cost approximately US$8 billion.
Lieutenant General Robert Rasch, the executive director of the Guam Defense System Joint Program Office, spoke to a US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week.
Lieutenant General Rasch told members of the Senate committee that the price tag is "really the cost of the systems that the services were building already that will now be located at Guam, approximately $8 billion across all the service".
He said the effort on Guam was to "get as much capability as soon as possible".
One senator asked how long until the system will be operational.
Lieutenant General Rasch said they will be improving this capability forever, and defense never rests.
Tonga - dengue
Dengue cases in Tonga have now reached 756.
In an update released on Monday night, Tonga's Ministry of Health reported there were six people in hospital with the disease.
It said 381 cases are from Tongatapu, 309 from Vava'u, 62 from 'Eua, and four from Ha'apai.
The health ministry said case investigations and vector control are ongoing.
Solomon Islands - One-China Policy
The Solomon Islands' prime minister has warned government workers against engaging with "Taiwan".
In a statement, Jeremiah Manele reaffirmed his government's commitment to the One-China Policy.
Earlier this month Manele survived a motion of no confidence, the second such challenge he's had to face during his first year in government.
It's given rise to talks of new legislation aimed at curbing political instability in the country.
Last week, the ABC reported a newly appointed government minister was pressured by China to quit an international group critical of its policies.
Beijing's Embassy in Honiara said the allegations are baseless.
It said China will never interfere in Solomon Islands internal affairs and also firmly oppose any other countries' interference in Solomon Islands' internal affairs.
Fiji - methamphetamine
Three men, including an officer of the Counter Narcotics Bureau, have been charged in Fiji in relation to importing methamphetamine.
The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service said the intercept took place last week after Customs Officers identified irregularities during screening of an airfreight consignment from a Southeast African nation.
The Fiji Times reported the three men each face a charge of unlawful importation of illicit drugs, while two of them also face a charge of possession of properties suspected of being proceeds of crime.
Police prosecutor, Inspector Pramesh Chand, told the court a fourth suspect had also been arrested.
Australia - visit
Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong is travelling to the Pacific with a delegation this week.
In a joint statement the ministers said they will travel to Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu.
They will meet with each nation's prime ministers, including discussing the strengthening of the Vuvale Partnership with Sitiveni Rabuka in Fiji.
The ministers said this early visit to the region, soon after the Australian election, demonstrates how deeply they value being part of the Pacific family.
Niue - fisheries
The 138th Annual Officials Meeting of the Forum Fisheries Committee has wrapped up in Alofi.
The Forum Fisheries Agency said officials from across the Pacific focused on advancing the sustainable management of the region's tuna fisheries.
It said officials addressed a wide range of strategic priorities including climate resilience and strengthened international engagement.
The outcomes from this meeting will be presented to ministers at the Forum Fisheries Committee Ministerial Meeting in July.
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NZ Herald
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Customs wants stronger law to seize childlike sex dolls favoured by paedophiles
That's because New Zealand's legal definition of the dolls is narrower than other countries' definitions, he said. 'Full-unit is our interpretation of 'indecent or obscene', which is what we can seize under the law: a full doll. 'We ask our frontline staff 'If this was alive, would it be a child?' 'If the doll is short but developed like an adult we wouldn't call that a childlike sex doll – just a short sex doll. Other countries do, and their [seizure] numbers are higher.' Peterson said Customs had to work with the legislation as it was written. 'We need to be careful we're not prohibiting the importation of things people would be okay with. 'We don't have legislation here that says what a child sex doll is, so we have to be quite conservative so we're not forever in court disputing people's appeals about what we've taken. Clarifications in law would be useful for that.' Peterson said since 2017 there have been seven border seizures and four post-border seizures of the high-tech, expensive and very controversial 'full-unit' dolls in New Zealand. By comparison, 47 dolls (inclusive of full and part-dolls) were seized nationally by the Australian Border Force during the 2024-25 financial year alone. Chief Customs Officer Simon Peterson said Australia has aggressive seizure laws but New Zealand Customs is limited to confiscating only 'full-unit' childlike sex dolls. Photo / NZME In 2019, a Timaru man in his late 50s became the first New Zealander to be jailed for importing one. What are they? The dolls are manufactured to resemble children in terms of size, development and perceived age. They're anatomically detailed, and made from materials that mimic human structures, flesh and skin. They're used for sexual purposes by paedophiles and their existence is extremely controversial, raising serious legal, ethical, psychological and child-welfare concerns globally. According to Customs all the dolls seized in New Zealand were manufactured in Asia. Some were bought from large, China-based online shopping sites. 'They're not cheap' Peterson told the Herald. 'At least $2000 each, plus it's expensive to ship them here.' In 2023 Customs sent an intelligence analyst to the Border Five Intelligence Conference in Canada, which included intelligence-sharing on the child sex dolls problem globally. Customs continues to talk to intelligence and investigation contacts overseas about the issue. So far in New Zealand, would-be smugglers have worked alone, Peterson said. 'We haven't seen anyone try to commercially import them or anything organised-crime related. There may have been some concern up in Europe that that may have been a trend, and they tend to be ahead of us – so we're keeping an eye on that.' Timaru man jailed for importing sex doll In 2019, Timaru man Stephen Heppleston, 58, became the first person in New Zealand to be jailed for importing a child sex doll. Customs officers found the lifelike doll resembling a young child while they were examining imports from China. Three NSW men were arrested in 2020 for the alleged purchase of these dolls. Photo / Australian Border Force Heppleston pleaded guilty to importing the child sex doll and possessing objectionable publications relating to the sexual exploitation of children. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. 'Full-unit' dolls and the law While the dolls aren't mentioned in New Zealand law, the Customs and Excise Act 2018 prohibits the importation of 'indecent or obscene articles' – interpreted by Customs as 'full-unit' dolls. Offenders can face up to six months in prison for trying to import one. 'The legislation does work,' said Peterson. 'It could be better [but] we work really well with Police and Department of Internal Affairs and we're motivated to make it work.' By contrast, in Australia importing childlike sex dolls is a specific offence under the Customs Act. The maximum penalty if convicted is up to 10 years' imprisonment and/or fines up to $525,000 ($575,000). The UK has similar rules to New Zealand but interprets them more strictly, including seizing dolls based on height and childlike faces. 'Proportionally per capita we have similar numbers of full-unit seizures but [the UK is] seizing a lot more parts,' said Peterson. 'If you import the lower part of a sex doll, there's no way we can tell that it is childlike. 'A part might be a flesh-like kind of thing. We can't say it represents a child – but other jurisdictions do.' It's unclear whether parts have been reassembled in New Zealand into full-unit dolls. Peterson said it's a potential workaround to evade the law, but Customs hasn't seen it. Peterson would like to see a review of the various laws that oversee child sexual exploitation and abuse so that modern loopholes to do with dolls, as well as rising threats from AI and the streaming of abuse, are captured. 'Other countries have adopted 'crimes against children' legislation. Australians do it well – they're aggressive with it,' he said. A second loophole Eleanor Parkes, national director of Ecpat – a New Zealand-based NGO working to end child sexual exploitation – told the Herald importing part-dolls is not the only loophole New Zealand paedophiles have exploited in order to get a doll. She said one adult anatomical detail will be added to an otherwise-childlike doll so importers can 'make the case they're not childlike'. 'The dolls are small, they are like children in every way, their skin feels like real skin, they respond like children, they sound like children – then they point to one feature, such as breasts or pubic hair, to make the case it's not childlike – when everything else about it is clearly childlike. 'Some say these childlike sex dolls act as a safe outlet for people who have dangerous sexual preferences but that doesn't hold up to scrutiny and actually the opposite might be true. They're an indulgence and [accepting them] risks harm to real children.' Parkes said the dolls are getting increasingly realistic and numbers of them are rising overseas. 'Let's get that serious legislation in place before it happens,' she said. 'We should take the opportunity to get our systems in place because New Zealand tends to follow global trends.' Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
18 hours ago
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Bitcoin price passes US$120,00 for the first time
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