Latest news with #KirstyNeedham
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, minister says
By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said on Sunday, responding to a report that the Pentagon has pressed its ally to clarify what role it would play if the U.S. and China went to war over Taiwan. Australia prioritises its sovereignty and "we don't discuss hypotheticals", Conroy said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance but by the government of the day," he said. The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Elbridge Colby, the U.S. under-secretary of defence for policy, has been pressing Australian and Japanese officials on what they would do in a Taiwan conflict, although the U.S. does not offer a blank cheque guarantee to defend Taiwan. Colby posted on X that the Department of Defense is implementing President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda of restoring deterrence, which includes "urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense". China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking in Shanghai at the start of a six-day visit to China that is likely to focus on security and trade, said Canberra did not want any change to the status quo on Taiwan. Conroy said Australia was concerned about China's military buildup of nuclear and conventional forces, and wants a balanced Indo-Pacific region where no country dominates. He said China was seeking a military base in the Pacific, which was not in Australia's interest. 'GOAL IS NO WAR' Talisman Sabre, Australia's largest war-fighting exercise with the United States, opened on Sunday on Sydney Harbour and will involve 40,000 troops from 19 countries, including Japan, South Korea, India, Britain, France and Canada. Conroy said China's navy might be watching the exercise to collect information, as it had done in the past. The war games will span thousands of kilometres from Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island to the Coral Sea on Australia's east coast, in a rehearsal of joint war fighting, said Vice Admiral Justin Jones, chief of joint operations for the Australian Defence Force. The air, sea, land and space exercises over two weeks will "test our ability to move our forces into the north of Australia and operate from Australia", Jones told reporters. "I will leave it to China to interpret what 19 friends, allies and partners wanting to operate together in the region means to them. But for me... it is nations that are in search of a common aspiration for peace, stability, a free and open Indo-Pacific," he said. U.S. Army Lieutenant General Joel Vowell, deputy commanding general for the Pacific, said Talisman Sabre would improve the readiness of militaries to respond together and was "a deterrent mechanism because our ultimate goal is no war". "If we could do all this alone and we could go fast, but because we want to go far, we have to do it together and that is important because of the instability that is resident in the region," Vowell said. The United States is Australia's major security ally. Although Australia does not permit foreign bases, the U.S. military is expanding its rotational presence and fuel stores on Australian bases, which from 2027 will have U.S. Virginia submarines at port in Western Australia. These would play a key role in supporting U.S. forces in any conflict over Taiwan, analysts say.
Hindustan Times
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Tiny Tuvalu seeks assurance from US its citizens won't be barred
By Kirsty Needham Tiny Tuvalu seeks assurance from US its citizens won't be barred SYDNEY -Tuvalu, a tiny Pacific nation that scientists predict will be submerged by rising seas, said it is seeking written assurance from the United States that its citizens will not be barred from entry after being apparently mistakenly included in a list of 36 countries facing visa bans. An internal diplomatic cable signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio showed the United States, which has already barred entry for citizens from 12 countries, was considering expanding travel restrictions to the 36 countries, including three Pacific Island states, Reuters and other media reported last month. Nations on the list would have 60 days to take corrective action, the cable showed. The news had caused significant concern in Tuvalu, whose population of 11,000 is at risk from rising sea levels, and where a third of residents have applied to an Australian ballot for a landmark climate migration visa. Tuvalu's ambassador to the United Nations, Tapugao Falefou, said he had been told by a U.S. official that Tuvalu's inclusion on the list was "an administrative and systemic error on the part of the U.S. Department of State". In a statement on Tuesday, Tuvalu's government said it had not received any formal notification that it was on the list, and had also been assured by the United States embassy in Fiji it was "an error within the system". "The Embassy has provided verbal assurances that there are no current restrictions on Tuvaluan nationals entering the United States, and that the matter is being reviewed with authorities in Washington," the statement from Tuvalu's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Labour and Trade said. It added Tuvalu was seeking a "formal written confirmation to that effect and continues to engage the U.S. Government to ensure Tuvaluans are not unfairly affected". The embassy did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. A U.S. official familiar with visa policy who is not authorized to speak publicly told Reuters "no decisions have been made, and any speculation is premature". "Tuvalu's public statement mischaracterizes and omits some of the valid concerns the United States has with travelers from that country," the official added. The other Pacific Islands listed in the cable were Vanuatu and Tonga. Tonga's government had received an official U.S. warning, and was working on a response, Tonga media reported. Vanuatu's government did not respond to a request for comment. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Japan Today
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Over a third of people on sinking Tuvalu seek Australia's climate visas
By Kirsty Needham More than one-third of the people in the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu, which scientists predict will be submerged by rising seas, have applied for a landmark climate visa to migrate to Australia, according to official figures. Tuvalu's ambassador to the United Nations, Tapugao Falefou, told Reuters on Sunday he was "startled by the huge number of people vying for this opportunity", and the small community was interested to learn who the first lot of climate migrants would be. Tuvalu, one of the countries at greatest risk from climate change, which experts say is boosting sea levels, has a population of 11,000 on its nine atolls scattered across the Pacific between Australia and Hawaii. Since applications for Australia's visa lottery opened this month, 1,124 people have registered, with family members bringing the total seeking the visa to 4,052 under the bilateral climate and security treaty. Applications close on July 18, with an annual cap of 280 visas designed to ensure migration to Australia does not cause brain drain from Tuvalu, officials said when the treaty was announced in 2023. The visa will allow Tuvalu residents to live, work and study in Australia, accessing health benefits and education on the same basis as Australian citizens. "Moving to Australia under the Falepili Union treaty will in some way provide additional remittance to families staying back," Falefou said. By 2050, NASA scientists project daily tides will submerge half the main atoll of Funafuti, home to 60% of Tuvalu's residents, where villagers cling to a strip of land as narrow as 20 meters. That forecast assumes a 1-metre rise in sea levels, while the worst case, double that, would put 90% of Funafuti under water. Tuvalu, whose mean elevation is just 2 meters, has experienced a sea-level rise of 15 cm over the past three decades, one and a half times the global average. It has built 7 hectares of artificial land, and is planning more, which it hopes will stay above the tides until 2100. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
The Star
29-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Over a third of people on sinking Tuvalu seek Australia's climate visas
FILE PHOTO: Aerial view of Funafuti, Tuvalu's most populous island, September 6, 2024. Picture taken through plane window. REUTERS/Kirsty Needham/File Photo SYDNEY (Reuters) -More than one-third of the people in the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu, which scientists predict will be submerged by rising seas, have applied for a landmark climate visa to migrate to Australia, according to official figures. Tuvalu's ambassador to the United Nations, Tapugao Falefou, told Reuters on Sunday he was "startled by the huge number of people vying for this opportunity", and the small community was interested to learn who the first lot of climate migrants would be. Tuvalu, one of the countries at greatest risk from climate change, which experts say is boosting sea levels, has a population of 11,000 on its nine atolls scattered across the Pacific between Australia and Hawaii. Since applications for Australia's visa lottery opened this month, 1,124 people have registered, with family members bringing the total seeking the visa to 4,052 under the bilateral climate and security treaty. Applications close on July 18, with an annual cap of 280 visas designed to ensure migration to Australia does not cause brain drain from Tuvalu, officials said when the treaty was announced in 2023. The visa will allow Tuvalu residents to live, work and study in Australia, accessing health benefits and education on the same basis as Australian citizens. "Moving to Australia under the Falepili Union treaty will in some way provide additional remittance to families staying back," Falefou said. By 2050, NASA scientists project daily tides will submerge half the main atoll of Funafuti, home to 60% of Tuvalu's residents, where villagers cling to a strip of land as narrow as 20 metres (65 feet). That forecast assumes a 1-metre rise in sea levels, while the worst case, double that, would put 90% of Funafuti under water. Tuvalu, whose mean elevation is just 2 metres (6 feet 7 inches), has experienced a sea-level rise of 15 cm (6 inches) over the past three decades, one and a half times the global average. It has built 7 hectares (17 acres) of artificial land, and is planning more, which it hopes will stay above the tides until 2100. (Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by William Mallard)
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Australia to boost aerial surveillance of Pacific for illegal fishing fleets
By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia plans to significantly boost surveillance of Pacific Islands territorial waters, spending A$477 million ($310.72 million) on aerial patrols for illegal fishing fleets, tender documents viewed by Reuters show, as China takes steps towards sending its coast guard to the region. Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit Fiji on Friday, the Fiji Times newspaper reported, after the government of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka last week approved a maritime security agreement that will see Australia fund a patrol boat for Fiji. Australia will operate commercial aerial patrols to support Pacific Island countries monitoring exclusive economic zones which span millions of kilometres of ocean. Efforts to tackle illegal fishing also led to a new monitoring centre being opened in Fiji in April. Australia's defence department declined to comment on the aerial tender, and Pacific Minister Pat Conroy did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters reported last week that China's coast guard is taking further steps towards high seas boarding of fishing boats in the Pacific for the first time, risking tensions with Taiwanese fleets that also ply the region. The Chinese Coast Guard demonstrated the capabilities of one of its largest ships, used to enforce maritime law in the Taiwan Strait, to 10 Pacific Island ministers, including Fiji's, in China a fortnight ago. China has registered 26 coast guard vessels for Pacific Ocean patrols with the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, although it is yet to conduct an inspection, WCPFC officials said. China declined to comment. Australia has gifted two dozen patrol boats to Pacific Island nations, and operates navy and air force patrols for illegal fishing in the region several times a year. Sangaa Clark, chief executive of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, representing nine Pacific Island countries controlling the world's largest tuna fishery, said the group has not invited China to conduct coast guard patrols, and instead relied on Australian-funded surveillance and patrols by Australia, New Zealand, France and the United States. Pacific security expert Peter Connolly, a fellow at the University of New South Wales, said Chinese Coast Guard patrols in the region would "introduce geostrategic tensions to the policing of the Pacific's fisheries". "This is particularly likely because the two most common nationalities of illegal fishermen in the Pacific have been from the PRC and from Taiwan," he said, referring to the People's Republic of China. ($1 = 1.5352 Australian dollars)
