Global Outlook

Labour migration has a long history in the Pacific islands’ region, from the ‘blackbirding’ era at the end of the nineteenth century when islanders came to work in the cane fields of Queensland, until this century when once again islanders came to work in Australia and New Zealand, this time in orchards and horticulture. .

Whatever the flag, Washington would not sell nuclear-powered boats unless it could count on them in war over Taiwan.

The world consists of more players than the US’ allies and friends, and conflict and strife generally occur outside the US’ sphere of influence. That’s why China’s Global Security Initiative diplomacy could present a serious challenge to the US’ diplomatic leadership.

In China-brokered talks, the two oil-rich and rival states of Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to restore diplomatic relations after a seven-year split. Although the two sides need much confidence-building, their rapprochement carries the potential to change the regional geopolitical landscape at the cost of concerns for policy hawks in the US and Israel.

In the shadow of two major geopolitical crises, the competition between China and the USA in the Pacific and the Ukraine war in Europe, a showdown between India and China is taking place in the Himalayas. The two most populous countries in the world have not been able to agree on a common border in the Himalayas for more than six decades. There are often dangerous military skirmishes, with the risk that the conflict will spiral out of control.

International politics is the struggle for the dominant normative architecture of world order based on the interlay of power, economic weight and ideas for the good international society. For several decades now wealth and power have been shifting from the west to the east and produced a rebalancing of the world order.