A UN report is said to have found the population of Papua New Guinea may be almost double – at 17 million – the official figure. But PNG economist and FDC Pacific Fellow at the Lowy Institute Maholopa Laveil said he is sceptical of the report.
Following almost a decade of geopolitically driven “stepping up”, ‘uplifting’, ‘resetting’, and “stepping up across the board”, it appears that Western governments believe more of the same will achieve greater influence in the Pacific.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown says respect for their sovereignty was likely among the reasons why Pacific leaders accepted an offer of partnership from the US, after earlier shelving China's.
