“China’s missile test came just days after the 80th anniversary of the first nuclear test in the Marshall Islands, when the US dropped a warhead into the lagoon of Bikini Atoll on July 1, 1946 — an event locals describe as ‘the day the sun exploded.’” — Jamie Tahana.
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“One of the lasting legacies of Tokelau’s relationship with New Zealand is its loss of population and capacity, through both the resettlement and Tokelau scholarship schemes.” — Melanie Puka Bean.
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“Increasing deportations may look strong on law and order domestically, but it will cause untold damage to our Pacific relationships.” — Henrietta McNeill-Stowers.
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“While the Pacific Islands Forum is often described as the region’s premier political gathering, it has never been a space owned solely by Pacific nations. From the beginning, Australia and New Zealand have sat at the table.” — Sione Tekiteki.
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“Alienating our Pacific whānau is not rooted in any coherent policy or strategy: it’s the product of personal grievances and political theatre.” — Jayden Evett.
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“The ICJ ruling has effectively reshaped the global climate change landscape by giving more power to small states, especially those in the Pacific, to hold the big polluting countries politically, morally, and financially accountable.” — Professor Steven Ratuva.
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“The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior was an act of international sabotage. It reverberated around the globe. But for Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, it landed, literally and emotionally, on their doorstep.” — Moana Maniapoto.
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“The international deep-seabed is the common heritage of all humankind. It must be reserved for peaceful purposes.” — Claire Slatter and Maureen Penjueli.
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“Not since the Cold War, when Pacific nations united to declare the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone, has it been so necessary to insulate the region against outside rivalry.” — Dr Marco de Jong and Dylan Asafo on declaring an Ocean of Peace.
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“The entire arrangement, where the US uses Hawai‘i as a strategic war base, is fundamentally violent and harmful. It relies on the perpetual suppression of our rights and potential as Kānaka Maoli.” — Joy Enomoto.
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“Pacific countries and territories trying to assert their sense of autonomy need to be treated with respect and mana, and not be growled at in a paternalistic way, as if they’re delinquent juveniles.” — Professor Steven Ratuva.
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“It is sound policy, not insurrection, for small nations to diversify economic partnerships and secure development opportunities for their people.” — Eugene Doyle on why New Zealand maybe shouldn’t invade the Cook Islands for signing a strategic partnership with China.
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“They control our economy, they control our politics, they control our military and also our culture.” — Filipino activist Jaime Paglinawan on the influence of the US and foreign capital.
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Exchanges like the one between Anthony Albanese and Kurt Campbell at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum meeting “would be inexplicable if Australia wasn’t ‘America’s man in the Pacific.’” — Van Jackson, foreign policy analyst.
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“In wanting to play with the big boys, the state bureaucracy, coupled with a grasping political class, appears likely to drag New Zealand into a US-led Asia-Pacific conflict that serves none of our interests.” — Glen Johnson.
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“They came with the Bible in front of them, in the hands of the Catholic missionaries, and the army behind them. And when we woke up, it was us with the Bible in our hand, and they had our land.” — Kanak leader Susanna Ounei, who died in 2016.
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“Despite the rhetoric around our so-called traditional partners and his desire to align more closely with the US, I believe Winston Peters also sees the need for New Zealand to engage meaningfully with Pacific nations.” — Dr Marco de Jong.
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“We can’t claim to be a trusted partner when we spy on our Pacific family on behalf of others. We also can’t claim to have an independent foreign policy when outside interests operate within our spy agency.” — Dr Marco de Jong.
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“Pacific nations can see the step-change in the way New Zealand is conducting its foreign policy. The shift away from an independent, nuclear-free and Pacific-led foreign policy towards the adoption of a US-led, Indo-Pacific strategy is clear. Our actions in Yemen confirm it.” — Dr Marco de Jong.
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“Why must Tuvalu exchange some of its sovereign powers over its own security for a migration pathway? This is not climate justice.” — Taukiei Kitara.
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“Our nuclear-free status is tied in intimate ways to our political independence, and ultimately to our survival as peoples of the Pacific.” — Dr Marco de Jong and Talei Mangioni.
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“Taking advantage of the smallness and climate vulnerability of island states to serve strategic agendas and take away their sovereign rights is downright unethical.” — Professor Steven Ratuva on the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union.
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“No amount of investment in military platforms, and alignment with the AUKUS nations and their beliefs, will deny our demography and geography: we are part of the Pacific.” — Dr Marco de Jong.
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“For New Zealand, and other Pacific nations, reducing our options to choosing sides between two imperial nations devalues our sovereignty and place as peoples of the Pacific.” — Dr Marco de Jong on AUKUS.
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“If Japan is so convinced of the scientific safety of its nuclear waste then it can go ahead and dump it in Tokyo. Their waste has no place in our Pacific.” — Dr Marco de Jong on the release of nuclear waste from Japan’s damaged Fukushima plant.
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“The Pacific needs an independent collective voice. The oppositional, vindictive and toxic nature of the geopolitical contest is not in their best interest. In fact, it will draw them unnecessarily into the deep vortex of insecurity and uncertainty.” — Professor Steven Ratuva.
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“Pacific people should stake their claim in their ocean, and make this sense of ownership known, acknowledged and respected by the marauding big powers, whose interests have typically been to use, exploit, extract, and then leave.” — Professor Steven Ratuva.
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“Deep sea mining is extraction for the sake of profit. It tramples the very things that make us Indigenous, that tie us to our land and moana, and to our ancestors and future generations.” — Liam Koka‘ua.
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“Centred around the acquisition of nuclear submarines to combat Chinese influence, AUKUS has grave implications for nuclear non-proliferation and Pacific sovereignty.” — Marco de Jong & Arama Rata.
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“The fear and anguish which once hung in the air like a morning mist had been replaced by a euphoric mood — people felt relieved that the regime which had ruled them for 16 years was at last history.” — Professor Steven Ratuva.
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