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│ The Pacific Islands Forum fizzles as China │

│ flexes its muscles │

│ large - The Economist - │

│ independent/independent [AUS,PLW,FJI] │

│ │

│ The 55th Pacific Islands Forum ran Aug 30 │

│ to Sept 1 in Koror, Palau, with several │

│ heads of state absent. China objected to │

│ Taiwan's presence and warned of │

│ consequences. Corroborated by Reuters and │

│ AP. Australia's regional convening power is │

│ being contested while its alliance │

│ commitments are unchanged, which is why the │

│ score holds and the confidence rises. │

│ │

│ https://www.economist.com/asia/2026/09/03/t │

│ he-pacific-islands-forum-fizzles-as-china-f │

│ lexes-its-muscles │

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│ China's Pacific missile test draws protests │

│ as Australia and Fiji sign defense treaty │

│ medium - Radio Free Asia - tilt/tilt │

│ [CHN,AUS,FJI,SLB,NZL] │

│ │

│ The July 6 JL-3 SLBM test's flight path │

│ crossed near Tuvalu/FSM/Nauru/Kiribati │

│ EEZs; the Solomon Islands (PIF chair) │

│ formally protested and Australia and Fiji │

│ signed the Ocean of Peace Alliance defense │

│ treaty in Suva in direct response, with New │

│ Zealand weighing joining (RFA is US-funded: │

│ usable on China, flagged; corroborated by │

│ Japan Times and Islands Business). Drove │

│ Australia alliance 3 to 4; China conflict │

│ held near -4. │

│ │

│ https://www.rfa.org/english/china/2026/07/0 │

│ 7/china-missile-test-pacific-fiji-australia │

│ / │

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