Pacific Magazine > Magazine > January 1, 2007

Government Briefs

Government Briefs

jan/feb 2007

Region
U.S. President George Bush has been invited by New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark to New Zealand following the 2007 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit. Clark has suggested Bush meet with Pacific leaders while in Auckland. Clark and Bush attended the APEC leaders summit in Hanoi, Vietnam in November, where she spoke informally to Bush. At the Hanoi summit, Clark and her Foreign Minister Winston Peters urged the U.S. to become more involved in the Pacific in the wake of the riots in Tonga in November and the RAMSI program in the Solomon Islands.

American Samoa
Two Chinese nationals accused of operating a prostitution ring in American Samoa go to trial on March 28 in Honolulu after the trial was postponed from early December. Fu Shen Kuo, 39, and Shengji Wang, 35, are accused of luring two Chinese women to American Samoa, trapping them in a karaoke bar in Pago Pago village and forcing them into prostitution. The trial was delayed after federal prosecutors asked for “additional time to translate documents and conduct a forensics examination of two computers” which were seized in September during the execution of a search warrant at Kuo’s residence and the attached structure known as the Bai Lai karaoke bar where Wang resides.
Samoa
It is official: Samoa is a one-party state. The official opposition Samoa United Democratic Party no longer has the numbers in Parliament to be an official party. That happened when the party’s former leader Le Mamea R. Mualia resigned from the group after losing the leadership to his former deputy, Asiata S. Vaai. The collapse of parliamentary opposition in Samoa is the direct result of the opportunistic nature of Samoan party politics, and the huge electoral advantages of being in government.
Guam 
The congressionally-appropriated U.S. military construction budget for fiscal year 2007 contains $193 million in Guam projects, an increase of $31 million over FY 2006. The largest single item is $52.8 million to build a maintenance and operations complex at Andersen Air Force Base for Global Hawk unmanned aircraft. The authorization law also contains $98.2 million in base housing projects.
FSM
Legislation recently approved by the FSM state of Kosrae has enabled reestablishment in late October of a refund program for aluminum cans and also paves the way for recycling and export of other materials. According to the Kosrae Island Resource Management Authority (KIRMA), 90,000 cans—refundable at five cents apiece—were collected and returned in the last week of October alone. The state intends to phase plastic and glass bottles, batteries and eventually items such as air conditioners, refrigerators and automobiles into the program. KIRMA will at some point transfer operations to private business, creating several jobs. A similar program has been implemented in Kiribati.
Papua New Guinea
The government has approved the establishment of a K3 million (US$993,000) factory to assemble Filipino-made jeepneys. The factory will be built in the East Sepik Province and will be managed by the Philippines Jeepney Manufacturing Corporation in a joint venture with local company Jeepney Papua New Guinea Limited. Two politicians who pushed for the factory to be set up, Wewak MP Kimson Kare and Ambunti-Drekikir MP Tony Aimo, say the Filipino icon will be a cheap transport alternative while the factory will create 500 new jobs.
Solomon Islands
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare disagrees with views expressed by the Central Bank of Solomon Islands and the government’s foreign investment division that the diplomatic standoff between Honiara and Canberra is causing damage to investor confidence. Central Bank Governor Rick Hou says people who have already money in on the ground are nervous. Others are putting investments on hold, he says. Director of Foreign Investment  says the situation is not sending a good message to investors and already the number of inquiries from investors who want to register their business interest with the division have slowed down dramatically since September 2006. But Sogavare says Australia is just one of many countries that investors come from. Sogavare says Taiwan has shown interest in investing in the Solomon Islands.

Contributors: Peter Rees, Fili Sagapolutele, Afamasaga Toleafoa, Frank Whitman, Jessica Chapman, Alex Rheeney and Alison Ofotolau.