Page 8 - IB January 2023

Whispers Whispers

USP boss ponders where to call inspected the facility, it was filled with reception he received in Kiribati on his
home grass and was housing cows. “There first state visit (see p15) For his part,
The University of the South Pacific was literally no patient nor a nurse in PIFS Secretary General, Henry Puna, told
is preparing to welcome Vice Chancel- there,” the Minister told parliament, in Prime Minister Rabuka, “We have much
lor Professor Pal Ahluwalia back to its response to calls from the local area for more to learn from you, a son of the re-
Laucala campus in Suva, after he was more health funding. gion that has returned to steer our Blue
deported in February 2021. However the Pacific canoe at this crucial time.” Ra-
VC’s return to Fiji may be a visit only, Water woes buka is due to hand over the Chair to his
as there are Whispers he may remain Air Vanuatu passengers want to know Cook Islands counterpart in March. Given
based in Samoa in the longer term. why Azure Pure Water continued to be this short timeframe, Secretary General
The VC says that is up to the university offered on flights two years after the Puna said, “We can’t and shouldn’t
council, but it’s understood there is sup- bottling company shut down. A passen- place too many expectations on him.”
port for him staying in the nation that ger on a flight from New Caledonia to
was so quick to host him (after a stint in Vanuatu earlier this month (January) no- Powerful passports
Nauru) when Fiji’s previous government ticed a 2020 expiration date on the wa- Which Pacific Islands passports rank
took him from his home on campus in ter he was offered. It had been bottled highest in the 2023 Henley Passport In-
the middle of the night. The VC now in 2018. Air Vanuatu has since informed dex (HPI), aka known as the ‘most pow-
has a unique perspective on the chal- local media that it has stopped using erful passports index’? That would be
lenges and opportunities faced by USP’s the water, and Vanuatu Water is now Samoa and Solomon Islands (ranked 41),
regional campuses, having spent consid- being offered on flights. Tonga (42), Tuvalu (44), Kiribati (47),
erable time at two of them. Meanwhile Marshall Islands (48) and Palau (50). Citi-
Fiji’s new government has pledged to Frightening entanglement zens of the lower ranked countries, FSM
make an initial FJ$7 million payment to A report by the Centre for Strategic (51), Vanuatu (57), Nauru (60), Fiji (61),
USP from its current budget, in a bid to and International Studies that shows and Papua New Guinea (63), will not be
resume grant payments to the university Guam in the crosshairs of China during surprised at their lower status, given
in a move that has been welcomed by a theoretical conflict with the United the hoops they need to jump through
the VC, students and staff. States over Taiwan, has reinforced to secure visas, entry permits etc. The
concerns over the territory’s vulner- index is based on data from the Interna-
New uni for Tonga abilities. In its report, “The First Battle tional Air Transport Authority (IATA) and
Tonga has one of the region’s highest of the Next War: War-gaming a Chinese assesses where a passport ranks on the
literacy rates, and at one stage, was Invasion of Taiwan”, CSIS describes the global mobility spectrum. It says there
reputed to have more PhDs per capita results of 24 scenarios of a “war game” is an unequivocal link between passport
than anywhere else on the planet. Now modelling a Chinese amphibious inva- strength and economic power.
it has a new university. His Royal High- sion of Taiwan. In most scenarios, while
ness Crown Prince Tupouto’a ‘Ulukalala the US/Taiwan/Japan defence was suc- BOOST fail
officially opened Tonga National Uni- cessful, it was accompanied by devas- The Bank of Saipan has returned fund-
versity earlier this month. King Tupou tating damage on Guam military bases. ing earmarked for local businesses and
VI has agreed to be the university’s Kenneth Gofigan Kuper, a member of non-profit organisations as it was not
Chancellor. The Prime Minister said the the Pacific Centre for Island Security, distributed as intended. Building Opti-
university was a national dream. Six said in response “if or when tensions be- mism Opportunity and Stability Together
government-owned higher education in- tween the U.S. and China turn kinetic, (BOOST) funding of just over US$850,000
stitutions have merged to form the TNU then Guam and Taiwan are frighten- has been returned. BOOST was designed
– a hybrid university – offering both aca- ingly entangled.” Rear Adm. Benjamin to provide financial assistance to local
demic and vocational study programs to Nicholson, commander of Joint Region businesses and non-profit organisations,
meet local and overseas labour market Marianas, in his response said, “Guam, to support their viability and the jobs
needs. The regional University of the the Commonwealth of the Northern they create. However the programme
South Pacific has a regional campus in Mariana Islands, Republic of Palau and has been plagued by controversy, and is
Nuku’alofa, but otherwise many tertiary the Federated States of Micronesia are now the subject of criminal investiga-
students opt to study in Australia and strategically vital to ensuring the U.S. tions.
New Zealand. The King says the Tonga military can continue to maintain a free
National University is a cost effective and open Indo-Pacific.” End of a (print) era
option for students. New Caledonia’s last daily newspaper
Warm welcome has stopped publication. Les Nouvelles
From hospital to animal farm ‘This is the Fiji we know, and the Fiji Caledoniennes, which first published
Shades of George Orwell in Samoa, we need’ was a sentiment shared by a more than 50 years ago, remains as
where animals have taken over a member of the Tongan community that an online publication. The paper was
hospital. Samoa’s health minister has performed the traditional welcome for part of the French Hersant publishing
asked how a disused district hospital at Fiji’s Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka at company until 2012, when it was sold to
Fagaloa is now being used as an animal the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat local interests in Noumea.
farm. Valasi Tafito Selesele said when he this month. It preceded the warm

8 Islands Business, January 2023